Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement

SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) Link to this

What a messy, difficult start it has been for the Prime Minister and the Labour Party since this House has come back. The issue of Taito Phillip Field has come home to roost for all those Labour MPs who never took the opportunity over the last 8 months to stand up and defend that member. Well, that was good judgment, because as it turns out it was indefensible. Now this sick, tired old Government is propped up by the Green Party. I will come back to that later on.

When I look around the House during question time I see it is a sad state of affairs. George Hawkins is actively disengaged now. He is not the slightest bit interested in what is going on in the House. The Hon David Cunliffe is all puffed up with his chest out, answering his questions to the gallery, instead of to the people in the House. Moana Mackey is about to start her career for the mayoralty of Pētone. She knows the time is up for a Government back-bencher who is never going to make it.

Who has been setting the agenda in New Zealand since Christmas? John Key has been setting the agenda since Christmas time and into 2007. He is doing a sterling job, because not only is he aspirational and unafraid of the big fights but, more to the point, he represents a generation of New Zealanders who cannot be represented by that tired, old, grey lot across the other side. It is a generation that that Government has lost touch with and does not understand. I can tell the House that National has lost confidence in the Department of Corrections and in the Minister of Corrections. But it is not just us. It is the Prime Minister as well.

In the Prime Minister’s annual statement she made it clear that although responsibility for applying for recall rests with the probation service, she now wants the police to do it, because the Department of Corrections is not up to it. She has also—and this one snuck under the radar—lost confidence in the Ministry of Justice. When we look closely at who is leading law reform and legislative change, we see it is the Law Commission. It is not the Ministry of Justice; it is the Law Commission. If it is a hot potato, we know that Rick Barker does not want to know about it. We know that Mark Burton has no idea of how to deal with it. Worst of all, we know that Damien O’Connor just cannot cope any longer. The justice sector, under this Government, is in total and utter disarray.

Let us look at the facts behind the disastrous and tragic events of the Burton case. The Parole Board released him back into society. That was not a smart move. But then the police told the Department of Corrections in November that something was wrong, that this guy was not where he was supposed to be, and that they were desperately concerned. On 5 December he allegedly breached his parole for the first time. Despite his history—escaping from Pāremoremo in 1998—and despite the police warnings that trouble was on the way, what did the department do? It sent him a letter. This is the sort of guy who is going to race out to his letterbox at 11.30 every day, open it, and say: “Oh well, the parole service has written to me. I had better go and check in.”!

The Department of Corrections sent him a letter and then did nothing until 19 December. It gave this character a 2-week head start on the New Zealand Police. What did the Government do? It ordered another report. The department said that it had nothing to do with it and that it had done everything right. Well, there is no change there; that is what the department always says. The chief executive officer of the department told the media that there are no plans to change the Parole Act—and then on Tuesday the Prime Minister said that there are plans to change the Parole Act. The chief executive officer has no idea of what is going on and has been left out of the loop completely. No doubt Damien O’Connor knew even less.

But did the Prime Minister say there would be changes made to the Parole Act? When one reads the Prime Minister’s statement one finds it is very carefully worded. She stated the Government has decided to give “serious consideration” to allowing the police to make a recall application. She gave no guarantees. She went on and stated, “it can be argued that the police should have the power to make an application for recall,”. Nowhere in her statement is there a commitment to put the Parole Act into order. Nowhere is there a firm undertaking to clean up the mess that occurred in December and January. It is just weasel words.

But I cannot let the Prime Minister’s statement go without saying something about the Greens. Green members are abstaining. Where are their principles? This is the party that fights for an agenda, fights for ideas, and tells its voters that it will not back off. Where are the major extractions of concessions of policy they have made? What I am sure of is this: Sue Bradford, MetiriaTurei, and Nandor Tanczos did not fight to get into Parliament in order to abstain on issues they feel strongly about. Sue Bradford’s own member’s bill agenda indicates she is a person with firm ideas and principles. What is that party doing by abstaining? Either it should get on board and back the Government or it should get out, but its abstaining and being neutral is a disgrace. It is a party of Ashraf Choudharys. We have seen a party of Ashraf Choudharys.

I would tell Green members not to come to this Parliament with all their righteous indignation about what other parties do, and with their carrying-on about how the Greens are above that, if they are prepared to be neutral on whether this Government should continue to survive. That is not good enough when those members have been elected to be the Switzerland of the New Zealand Parliament. They should either get on board or get out.

This Government is old, tired, and grumpy. The Prime Minister’s face has returned to that pre-1999, lemon-sucking contortion that we have not seen for 4 or 5 years, where the sort of forced smile we see on Close Up has been replaced by the grim darkness of the “evil empire” coming to its last days of power. We on the National side of the House know that Labour’s time is up, that Helen Clark is gone, and that those tired, old Ministers—who will be driving around in their hybrid fuel cars shortly—have to get used to the fact that their time is done and that they did not get anywhere near delivering for New Zealand the type of vision, aspirational messages, and legislative drive that John Key and the National Party will bring after the next general election.

Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister of Education) Link to this

I welcome all members back to the House. It is good to be back. It is good to hear young Simon Power, rested and able to scream for a whole 7 or 8 minutes. He obviously had a good rest over the holidays, running around the beach with the kids. Members can do that in the Rangitīkei and Manawatū, by the way. On behalf of my comrade I can say if anybody is looking for a great holiday next year, Simon is an example. He is able to come back here refreshed having been in the Rangitīkei and Manawatū. So he is a good example of where members might go for their holidays.

It was good to hear the Prime Minister. She was totally relaxed, she gave a fantastic speech, she set out a whole new vision of where we might go as a country as we take on the whole sustainability - climate change agenda. She talked about economic transformation, families young and old, and national identity. She outlined that the country, over the last 7 years, has been on a consistent roll of growth and opportunity. On the international stage we are well respected. It was fantastic to watch the Prime Minister, resplendent in red, in this packed House talking about our country, which has a great, great future in front of it because of the Labour leadership.

It is great to see up close the National Party co-leadership, the English-Key team, here in the House. There is something like a bit of an uncivil union about it, though, I have to say. We have something old—Bill English retreaded through the whole system again. We have something new—Mr Key who has been here for only a few years and has rocketed through the ranks of the National Party. There was so little talent in front of them after all these years that he was able to come through in only 4 years. Is it not amazing that currency trading is somehow a qualification for being Prime Minister of the country? The party is so talentless that the others who have been here for a long time were not lined up for the job, and he came through just like that. The leader before him—who was so talentless, as well—rocketed through the ranks in about 3 years.

Anyway, we have the co-leadership of the two of them, and I have to mention something blue—Gerry Brownlee. Gerry Brownlee looks so sad. He looks a bit like a deflated balloon over there at the present time, I have to say. He has been muscled off the position he once held, dominating the Chamber with his large booming voice and his “Langeesque” presence. He used to rise frequently, brushing aside the old leader as we were asking who was the leader of the House. Gerry would rise, brushing Don aside, so he could champion the cause of the National Party. What an uncivil union!

What I have to say though is that we are asked to believe that this little mess is somehow a new start for the National Party. Don Brash has gone, pink shirts are in, tiki T-shirts are OK, climate change has been discovered, nuclear ships are not too good, and poverty—poor people—have been suddenly discovered by the National Party, as well. But I say to the country that actually nothing has changed. Mr Key is as hollow a man now as he was before he was a leader of the National Party. He is surrounded by right-wing policies. He is surrounded by the same backers outside Parliament. He is surrounded by the same old tired faces of the National Party. Has anybody seen anyone look as tired as Nick Smith? I have to say that if that is youth, it is wasted on the National Party if one ends up looking like that. I think what I am going to have to do is take Mr Smith out for a few runs at half past 6 in the morning. For goodness’ sake, he needs to liven up and look a little bit like he is a youthful man full of the future and full of the rising sap of life.

National members are surrounded by the same old religious affiliations. Mr Key likes to say he is Brethren-neutral. But remember they loved his presentation. They sent him the emails. He cannot remember the emails. He is a little like Don Brash, who was a little fuzzy on the old memory. John Key cannot remember the emails, just as he cannot remember his position on the Springbok Tour. This is a man who in 1981 was a young man who played rugby at the local club, but when he—an active, rugby-playing young bloke in Christchurch, the site of some of the biggest, most violent protests in the history of this country—was asked on radio what his view was, he said: “I can’t remember. I can’t quite think of what I thought at that particular time.” He sounded like Brash—not much change there.

The fact that National has not changed is illustrated by the Unicef report. That report tells us about the National legacy from the 1990s. The data is from 1997 to 2003. It captures the impact of Richardson and Shipley. Key says he has changed things. He says the old days are irrelevant. But let us look at the style offensive—because that is all it was—on poverty by John Key. He started off with a speech about people who are poor, but then he got in the limo and went with the posse to visit the hood, as he probably understands it, McGehan Close. He was hoping to see people in a seething mass of poverty, but he found, for example, that the young woman he took to Waitangi had just come back from participating in the I Have a Dream programme—she had gone off from her school to live out that particular dream.

Mr Key then went round to Wesley School and offered it muesli bars it neither wanted nor needed. It asked him to go away and stop making it a political football. The programme fell over, he blamed the Government, and he cancelled the policy. This is a pattern that happened with the silver fern in Los Angeles, with the discussions about the mortgage levy, and with the whole thing about school breakfasts. Every time he gets it wrong he blames the Government, cancels the policy, and withdraws. This is inexperience. This is a man not ready. This is a man living on the edge. This is a man pushing the envelope. This is a man with nothing to say, so he just keeps moving and keeps the pictures rolling. He keeps hoping that people will not notice he has nothing to say.

John Key was asked why he would not do something real about poverty. What policy was National’s biggest single contribution on poverty? Does Mrs Wong know? Does anybody on the National benches know? National paid no attention to poverty in the 1990s. The Salvation Army told us that the single biggest contributor to poverty in New Zealand was market-related rents. Mr Key, the muesli bar kid, who went round with muesli bars to Wesley School, which did not want them and did not need them—a few muesli bars are Mr Key’s answer to poverty—was asked by Duncan Garner what he would do about market rents. Mr Key answered that they are still National Party policy.

If the National Party comes back, we will get the single biggest contributor to poverty with it. This is like the dark days of the 1990s. This is the same recipe from the hollow men who destroyed this country. If they come back, we will have tax cuts and cuts to services, the community will be on its own, and we will be back down the same dark tunnel. No doubt it will be done with more charm, no doubt it will be done with more style, no doubt it will be done with a pink shirt, no doubt it will be done with a tiki, no doubt it will be done with people getting free rides to places like Waitangi, and no doubt it will be done with a charming face, but we will be in the same dark tunnel that National took us down before.

We are lucky, therefore, that we have a Labour Government. What a record. Since 2000 we have undertaken a programme relating to income-related rents, State houses, Working for Families, primary health organisations, minimum wages, and jobs. The programme has been huge. The difference has been huge. That is why we can say that the Unicef document is a historical marker of what National did to this country. Thank goodness for Labour, because we can now tell the country that new statistics are here. Under the previous National Government we were 23rd out of 25 in the poverty stakes. Now, under this Government, we are fourth in the OECD. Does anybody see any mystery about that? Is anybody not able to understand what the difference is?

I go back to the Prime Minister’s statement. That is the record. The Prime Minister outlined the future. This country, under a Labour-led Government, has a bright, real, optimistic, aspirational future suited to the kinds of young, lively, forward-looking, real New Zealanders who make up the Labour-led coalition and the parties that enable it to stay in power. We are New Zealand—look at Labour, the Progressives, New Zealand First, United Future, the Greens, and the Māori Party. Then, wham, when we look at the members opposite we move into non - New Zealand. That is the past; Labour is the future. Thank goodness we are here.

PANSY WONG (National) Link to this

I would like to clarify for the public who are listening to this debate that this is not a general debate. This is not the usual Wednesday general debate. These 14 hours are set aside for very serious debate. It is for us to argue, defend, and challenge the Prime Minister’s statement. The last speaker was the Hon Steve Maharey, the Minister of Education. He spent only 10 seconds on the Prime Minister’s statement; he barely mentioned the Prime Minister. He is a seasoned politician, and I think he knows that her days are numbered. He does not want to be associated with the slogan-filled Prime Minister’s statement.

I make another observation. The Hon Steve Maharey, the leadership aspirant, talked about leading a young team, but I am afraid that apart from you, Mr Assistant Speaker—because you are sitting in the middle—when I look across the aisle I see a sea of grey hair and bald heads. It is really difficult for me to project about, and have empathy for, the Hon Steve Maharey’s young, upcoming, energetic Labour team. I think he is dreaming. I agree with Prime Minister Helen Clark that Labour needs to remove a lot of dead wood.

But I want to put the record straight about what happened last Christmas. The Hon Steve Maharey mentioned how my diligent and effective colleague Simon Power had a break. He did not. He appeared daily in the newspapers in relation to the Department of Corrections and the horrific, despicable Graeme Burton tragedy that happened to an innocent family. Simon Power was there every day. The question is where was the Minister of Corrections, Damien O’Connor. When did he ever front up? I have good news for the Hon Steve Maharey. He is, indeed, looking at a young, aspirational team—National is the Government in waiting. Our Minister of Corrections will front up to the public, unlike Damien O’Connor who pointed the finger at all the other departments.

We are here today to debate the supposedly very important Prime Minister’s statement. We all know that the Prime Minister likes to quote the findings, etc., of international bodies. Let us take a look at the International Monetary Fund’s gross domestic product per capita ranking, which measures the economic status of a nation, and also at the World Economic Forum’s environmental index. It is interesting to see that there is a lot of overlap of countries that appear in the top 10 of both lists—for example, Norway, Iceland, Canada, Switzerland, and Austria. The message is that countries that score well in their environmental status also do very well in their economic performance. We must have good environmental policy. Good environmental status goes hand in hand with economic development. So now we know there is bad news for Labour, because the countries that do well economically also do well in their environmental status.

It is no news to the public that this tax-and-spend Labour Government has not advanced New Zealand towards its first slogan—the top half of the OECD—and it is only a matter of time before the new slogan of sustainability will also disappear. For the Prime Minister to take this opportunity to announce a policy of purchasing brand new, eco-friendly limousines for Cabinet Ministers is not a bold move. That expenditure is made by compliment of the taxpayer. The question that remains is how long this latest slogan about sustainability will last. The Prime Minister referred to “sustainability” 33 times in her statement. For us to guess how long this latest slogan will last might take us back for a moment.

I will take the public back to last year’s Prime Minister’s statement. What did she say last year? She said: “New Zealand in 2006 is, in many ways, a work in progress.” That is bad news. We have been one long work in progress for the last 7 years, and nothing has been resolved. According to the Prime Minister, the country is on a journey away from the old economy to a new one—to improved health, education levels, and living standards for all people, etc. But some would argue that the public has been taken for a ride, or to the cleaners, for its hard-earned income. We see that the ever-increasing tax revenue has not delivered much if we look at surgery waiting lists and the growing underclass identified by our National leader, John Key. He sets the agenda for this year.

Today the Unicef report ranks New Zealand in the bottom half of developed countries on two-thirds of the measures of children’s well-being. [Interruption] Well, the Hon Mark Burton has become very annoyed when I say that John Key sets the agenda. Of course he does. Why else would the Hon Steve Maharey spend 8 minutes and 30 seconds talking about John Key and 10 seconds talking about the Prime Minister? This is the debate on the Prime Minister’s statement and I have had my observations confirmed. I noticed that the whole Labour bench went to sleep during her delivery, which probably explains why the Hon Steve Maharey did not have much to talk about.

Let us come back to the debate. Steve Maharey looked at this outrageous report on the status of New Zealand children. He said that it was wrong and that the data was out of date. But National members have news for the Minister, because National’s hard-working MP Judith Collins can tell him a few things. The data is not out of date. She can identify that the number of substantiated child-abuse cases has doubled from 6,000 in the year 2000 to 13,000 in 2006. The number of notifications of child abuse cases has risen from 28,000 in 1999 to 70,000. The Hon Ruth Dyson says that that is good news because more people are reporting abuse; I say that it is hugely bad news for New Zealand.

I have an email that I want to share with the House and the public. This email is from a photographer who says he has been working on a project for a year now. He is taking photographs of extreme poverty in New Zealand. The location is not overseas; it is New Zealand, in South Auckland. It will give me no joy when I eventually table those photos in this House. The fact that the Labour Prime Minister and her Cabinet are in denial gives me no choice but to bring those photos, when he has finished, and table them in this House. The photographer says that he cannot turn a blind eye and pretend there is no poverty and no underclass. He says he is so glad that John Key, the leader of the National Party, has raised this issue, because New Zealand has to confront and resolve this problem.

As John Key says, we have to do it together; National will not duck its responsibility. Next year we will do it as a Government, but right now in Opposition John Key has already taken up that challenge. He knows that the problem is urgent. He is not going to wait for 12 months. John Key, as leader, is going to confront those tough questions, and he aims to save that underclass.

Hon MARK BURTON (Minister of Justice) Link to this

I want to tell Pansy Wong that one does not confront the great issues and challenges facing our nation by donning a tiki T-shirt, exploiting a 12-year-old kid for a photo opportunity, and calling that leadership. Those are cheap political stunts. I also want to tell Pansy Wong that, yes, she should be pleased—we should all be pleased—not about the increase in the number of cases of child abuse but about the fact that we are hearing about them, because when they are being exposed to the light of day they can be dealt with. That is something our society has to confront. I listened to one or two of the more informed commentators talking about the Unicef report, and the most intelligent comment was that these issues are for our society and our communities. I want to tell Pansy Wong that they are not issues for cheap, nasty point-scoring.

On Tuesday the Prime Minister observed that New Zealand today is a stronger, fairer, and more confident nation than it was 7 years ago, and it is. But the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, in detailing the Government’s achievements to date, also conveyed this Government’s determination and commitment to build on the good work that has been done. Yes, indeed, there is still a great deal more to do. But to see the sorts of stunts of the so-called revolving leadership of the National Party—donning tiki T-shirts to go to Waitangi and pink T-shirts to go to the Big Gay Out, as though doing that is somehow a statement of policy and makes it connected to New Zealand and New Zealanders—shows that National is not only a party of hollow men; it is a party of shallow men. One of my constituents who listened to John Key’s speech on Tuesday said to me on the telephone the other day that it was the most profoundly shallow speech he had ever listened to. “Profoundly shallow” is a new concept—one that I think bears listening to.

Pansy Wong wants to talk about substance. I came to this House in significant part because of the blight of unemployment on my neighbours—the blight of unemployment of the families of the good people of the central volcanic plateau. In the 7 years and 2 months that I have had the enormous privilege of serving as a Minister in Helen Clark’s Government, the unemployment rate in my community of Taumarunui has declined by 60 percent. In Tokoroa the unemployment rate has been reduced by 73 percent. In Tūrangi it has been reduced by 87.5 percent, and in my home town of Taupō we have gone from nearly 1,000 people whose lives were blighted by unemployment to 60—a 94 percent decrease.

Some 25 years ago, as a new resident in the town of Taupō, I, along with some others, helped to form the Taupo Employment Support Trust. Many good people have since been involved with that trust. Obviously, I moved on from my involvement in it as a foundation trustee. Those people have been involved in providing some of the best-quality training and support services to unemployed people in that community and that district for a quarter of a century. Recently, that trust wound up. Do members know why? It is because its purpose for existing—to support long-term unemployed people—simply did not require its existence any longer. It was a tough thing to decide for the current trustees. It obviously required winding up some people’s employment. They went on to other jobs, as well. But there simply was not a justifiable purpose for the Taupo Employment Support Trust any longer.

That is the business that this Government has been about for the last 7 years. So, yes, I say to Pansy Wong: substance. I say to Pansy Wong that as a Government we have been about the people’s business. And, yes, there is more to do, because, frankly, if 60 people are still on the unemployment benefit in my home town, that is 60 too many. But that is what passes for real action and real activity that means something to the people of New Zealand.

I contrast that activity with the 10-minute superficial waffle that we heard the other day from the stand-up comedian opposite. He has already had the high point of his speaking career with his speech down in Christchurch. That speech was described by one prominent commentator as disappointing in its content and particularly disappointing in its delivery. What is more, we now know that it was Mr English who wrote that speech, not Mr Key. Mr Key said he spent the summer working on this masterpiece. Actually, Bill English is on the record as telling us he actually wrote the speech because Mr Key does not know about social policy. So this is the brave new leadership of the National Party! John Key did not spend the summer writing a speech, because he did not know anything about the subject. We saw just how substantial a leader he is with that shameful jaunt to Waitangi, with a 12-year-old child hauled along as a camera trophy. I think many thousands of New Zealanders felt ashamed to see a senior politician in our country engaged in such a stunt on a day that most New Zealanders wanted to celebrate their nationhood.

Many things have been talked about in the last short while in the wake of the release of the Unicef report. It is important that the issues raised in that report are looked at, are discussed, and are considered by New Zealanders. It is fair to say that the report, taken in its time from the mid-1990s through to the beginning of this decade, makes a fair representation of the way things were. But a great deal has been done since then. The Working for Families tax credits have substantially changed the material well-being of thousands of New Zealand’s families. By 2008 we will have reduced the percentage of children living below 50 percent of the median income level from 14.6 percent to 4.5 percent. That will place New Zealand in the top four countries in the OECD alongside Denmark, Finland, and Norway. That is a case of the Government working on the serious business of the people—with New Zealanders for New Zealanders.

I have referred to the unemployment rate and the overall benefit rate. If one adds them all up one finds that 30 percent fewer New Zealanders—in actual numbers, putting aside population growth—are on all benefits. The total number of people who are reliant on any benefit is down by 30 percent. In regards to the Children’s Nutrition Survey we have heard cheap stunts again about child nutrition, but the survey carried out in 2002 found that 84 percent of 11 to 14-year-olds ate breakfast. That data, not used in the Unicef report released this week, would have put New Zealand in the top three.

CHESTER BORROWS (National—Whanganui) Link to this

On 30 January John Key gave a speech that set a course in New Zealand politics and that continues to do so. John Key ripped the lid off a whole agenda that Labour did not want out of the jar. The beauty of that speech was that Helen Clark and her tribe cannot stop talking about it. John Key set the agenda for the Prime Minister’s speech this week, and we have 14 hours to debate the arguments that John Key wanted debated. Labour and the media initially said that the speech was short on substance and short on policy, yet now they have to concede that the speech was long on relevance and that it struck a chord with constituents, commentators, professionals, lay people, and volunteers who know that people are struggling. The Prime Minister may not care to know that people in this country find it hard to make ends meet because, although there are more people in work, they still earn peanuts compared with the costs they are forced to meet. It was John Key who led the debate about people doing it tough, and it is the Government that is responding to that speech; the boot is firmly on the other foot. Labour members did not want to rip the scab off that sore, because they know that keeping people poor, hopeless, and downtrodden will always leave them a constituency. There is an old saying: “Two men looked out from prison bars, one saw mud and one saw stars.” Well, Labour wants its people to see only mud.

Take the elderly, for example. On 4 September, 365 old folk in Wanganui had their home help subsidy removed. Those oldies got an hour or so a week of vacuuming and washing done that eased their lives a bit. But that got the chop. The home care was done by neat people who had a relationship with the elderly—they called them by their first name, and they did it all for 10 bucks an hour. Ten bucks an hour was too much for that miserable lot sitting over on the other side of the Chamber. Well, what happened? The oldies had to do their own vacuuming and window washing, hang out their own clothes on the line, and go to the shops for their groceries, and they started falling over, breaking bones, having heart attacks, and being hospitalised. Labour tells them to stay down and stop complaining.

Labour is slapping people down in education, too. It promised 20 free hours of early childhood education, but it cannot deliver. Now it hides behind the kindies and the crèches and says: “Well, it’s not our fault; those mean childcare workers want too much for childcare.” Labour says it is those workers who will not let us have it. Labour’s price for childcare in Wanganui is 98c an hour; now there are no takers and Labour blames the providers.

Waverley High School has been in a Labour electorate with a Labour MP for 9 years and under a Labour Government for 7 years. Things have been going downhill for Waverley High School—for nearly 10 years, the Ministry of Education says. But it finally did something for the school last year. There are 11 teachers at that school, who all get two management units each, which means that they teach for 3 and a half days a week—and there are only 65 kids. The ratio of teachers to pupils is one teacher to eight pupils, and rocket science should be done even with average students and average teachers, but the school is failing all round. The Education Review Office says that 50 percent of the kids can be truant on any one day, but there are no records of any child ever being reported to truancy services, at all. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority says that there is evidence of teachers and children cheating on National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) exams and assessments, and now the school is not allowed to administer any NCEA assessments, at all. Labour has failed the community of Waverley. Two-thirds of schoolkids at Waverley Primary School go to intermediate and high school by bus because anyone who can afford to send their kids to any school other than Waverley High School does so. The rest go to school half the time. There is another slap.

Labour is slapping down people in terms of law and order. Labour knows that it can easily profile the mother of a prison inmate. She was young and probably a teenager when she had her first child. She left school with no qualifications. She is low waged or on a benefit. She smokes tobacco and is probably addicted to alcohol or some other substance. The father of her baby, if she knows him, is from the same demographic as she is. Once people have been in jail their children have seven times the chance of following them to jail in years to come. Labour knows that if those people vote at all, they vote Labour, so they are taken for granted. There are 7,500 inmates in our prisons today. Eighty-three percent of them have drug and alcohol problems. How many of them got on a drug or alcohol course in jail last year? One hundred and seventy-four out of 7,500. Labour does not care.

Prisoners should come out of jail better than when they went in, but Labour does not want that, either. Eighty percent of prisoners do no study or work; they do nothing while they are in jail. In Kaitoke prison there was a shoe factory that employed about a hundred inmates a year. Most had never worked. Anecdotally, the prison officers tell me that none who worked in that shoe factory ever came back to prison. That, in itself, saved millions of dollars. But it was shut down in 2003 because it did not make a profit. There is another slap.

Liam Ashley was a boy who had been looked after in a special school for kids with problems. Then he reached the ripe old age of 16 and there was nothing for him—no dough in the education system for him. There was nothing to protect this vulnerable young man. He was put on a work programme where he rubbed shoulders with other little Fagins who exploited and manipulated him, and he got into trouble with the law. He ended up in a prison van, where he should not have been. He was handcuffed to a violent murderer, locked away, and killed—and nobody said sorry. Nobody in the Government has put up a hand and said: “This is my fault, I was responsible.” In fact, the only person who has done that has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.

Then we have Graeme Burton, a man who was in jail for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He escaped and was recaptured. He showed no sign of remorse or concern and came up for parole. He was told that he would not get it, but a year or so later when he came up for parole he jumped through the hoops and was given parole on strict conditions. He broke the conditions, and the Department of Corrections and the police knew about it. He was going nuts and beating the hell out of people, robbing people, acquiring guns, and taking drugs. What he was not doing was reporting in. He was not keeping appointments and behaving like a person serving a life sentence. That is what escapes the commentators on this issue. Graeme Burton robbed, beat up people, armed himself, and murdered—and, thankfully, was eventually shot—while he was serving a life sentence. Who is in charge of people doing life sentences? The Minister of Justice is. He has just finished speaking; he did not mention the case, as far as I can recall. The Minister of Justice, the Minister of Corrections, and the chief executive officer of the Department of Corrections are in charge. Burton has pleaded guilty, but no one in charge has said sorry.

Labour has slapped down people on welfare. Labour’s policies are hell-bent on achieving statistical benchmarks whereby people are pushed into jobs that are not suited to their skills, hopes, or future. Kids are leaving school without hope, ambition, and desire—not to mention without the NCEA. Sally is a beneficiary in my electorate. She was encouraged to think of where she would like to work if there were no barriers. She could not see past working at her local cinema. When she was further encouraged to think beyond just getting enough cash to see her through the day, she began to visualise a life where she was working with children, perhaps living in a flat in Wellington, perhaps studying, perhaps getting rid of her current dead loss relationship, and actually achieving some of those goals lost long ago. She was given work experience at a local school and she did well. After a month or so when the school was contacted it said that she was great, that it loved her, that the kids loved her, and that it did not know what it did without her. She looked into education papers and teacher training and suddenly saw a life that was not reliant on a hand-to-mouth benefit or the State. Sadly, this Government—with its lack of vision and flexibility, and which is meant to put its money where it is needed—gave her a job. This constituent of mine, after almost finding a way out of the cycle, is once again back on a benefit and working part time at the Warehouse, where she had to go or lose the benefit. Her teacher training papers sit on the dressing table at home, where suddenly it all seems too expensive, too impossible, and too far away. There is no more job at the school, no more teacher training college, and no hope. There is another slap.

Tommy Trinder was an old music-hall comedian. If I do my best Peter Brown impression, maybe I can do an impression of Tommy. He said: “What’s the Labour Government ever done for the working man? Promised him everything, given him nothing, and before he gets it they take it away from him.” Tommy Trinder said it as a joke, but it is the reality for our people doing it hard in our country. It is no joke.

Hon LUAMANUVAO WINNIE LABAN (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector) Link to this

Kia ora, talofa lava, and warm Pacific greetings to you all. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Today is special because it is the seventh anniversary of my giving my maiden speech, and I stand to say how proud I am to be a member of this wonderful Labour-led Government.

In the Prime Minister’s address to the House on Tuesday, she said that New Zealand’s future is dependent on long-term sustainable strategies for our economy, society, environment, culture, and way of life. She went on to say that those strategies have to be driven by strong leadership and sound policies. Helen Clark and Michael Cullen have provided the strong leadership, and the Labour-led Government has developed and implemented a wide range of sound policies. The results speak for themselves. The Labour-led Government has made huge inroads into the poverty problems it inherited from National. We have made major investments in social policies, such as Working for Families, and there have been seven increases in minimum wage rates, lower medical fees, and more Modern Apprenticeships.

Since Labour came to power, 62,000 fewer children are living in households claiming a main benefit. Child poverty rates fell from 27 to 21 percent in the 3 years to 2004. Working for Families is predicted to reduce child poverty by up to 70 percent. There are 2.1 million Kiwis in paid employment—an increase of 340,000 since 1999. Unemployment is now down to 3.7 percent. As of June 2006 there were 9,171 Modern Apprenticeships—13 percent more than in 2005—and 123,302 industry trainees overall. Two thousand three hundred workers have completed their Modern Apprenticeships since the year 2000.

I plan to speak today about the challenge of sustainable strategies for our families and our communities. The different approaches the Government and the Opposition have taken to social policy are based on two contrasting world views and two contrasting political philosophies. The Government’s approach is to support the development of strong independent families and communities that contribute to the social and economic development of a strong independent nation.

In contrast, there has been a lot of talk from the Opposition about charity, and some politicians have recently discovered poor people who apparently deserve our charity. In the English language we have the expression: “As cold as charity.” The idea that charity is a loveless gift given to the deserving poor comes out of the 19th century liberal tradition in which the rich were encouraged to give some of their private wealth to the poor, no matter that their accumulation of wealth had created poverty and inequality. This patronising act of charity reinforced the gap between the rich and the poor. It individualised giving and it broke up communities. It is interesting how old ideas are recycled. It is not surprising to me that the inheritors of the liberal tradition—the neo-liberals of today, whose accumulation of wealth has created poverty and inequality—are talking about charity and making visits to the deserving poor in their mean streets. It saddens me to see that the noble idea of true charity as a loving gift has been debased.

The scholars amongst us will know that the word “charity” has its origins in the Latin “caritas” and the Greek “agape”. Closer to home, in Māori it is “aroha”, in Samoan it is “alofa”, in Tongan it is “ofa”, in the Cook Islands it is “aroa”, in Hawaii it is “aloha”, and it translates as “a loving gift”. In each of these languages the idea of charity is bound to the concept of love and selfless giving.

It was in 1935 that the first Labour Government established a system of social security provided by the State to support those in need. Michael Joseph Savage referred to social security as “applied Christianity”. Social security provided citizens with entitlements so that they did not have to beg for charity from the wealthy in their times of need. Today there are many programmes funded by our Labour-led Government designed to address the causes of poverty and to empower citizens and communities to stand tall and help themselves. The Labour-led Government is committed to supporting strong, healthy, independent, and sustainable communities—that is the Kiwi way.

Recently the Government launched the new Charities Register to increase transparency of charitable organisations and to strengthen the public’s trust and confidence in the charitable sector. It will do this by ensuring that only genuine charities gain registration—that is, those organisations that advance religion, relieve poverty, or have a purpose that is otherwise beneficial to the community as their main purpose. Charitable organisations that are putting love back into charity deserve our support. Gone are the days where people have to beg for charity. But if the Opposition gets a chance to implement its economic and social policies, where privatisation of Government services and private charity are the preferred approaches, we will see a return to the social problems of the 1990s.

It is easy to forget the impact of the economic restructuring of the 1990s on Māori, Pacific people, women, and ordinary working people. In 1999 the economics professor Carl Davidson noted: “… the Pacific Island workforce has been more damaged by economic policy changes than any other group in New Zealand. The sharp decline in the economic status of the Pacific Island community in recent years, through unemployment and the reduction of social welfare benefits, has had profoundly negative effects. Cultural dislocation is no longer offset by reasonably high incomes; welfare dependency has damaged their collective sense of self-worth; and there has been an overall deterioration of their standards of living and their physical and psychological health.”

The Labour-led Government has done much to turn that round, and turn round the impact of the economic and social policies of the 1990s. Working for Families will have brought at least 130,000 children out of income poverty. Latest figures show that unemployment has dropped to 3.7 percent. The latest December quarter 2006 benefit figures show that 62,735 fewer children are living in a household that claims the benefit. The Fruit in Schools programme gives 57,000 students access to fruit and nutrition, after being extended to 268 schools from October last year. Our challenge now is to build on those achievements and sustain them in the future. We have seen a huge change in our communities, with more people than ever before moving into work.

Importantly, these gains are shared with all regions of New Zealand. This has happened on the back of sound management of the economy, leading to strong economic growth. Unemployment benefit numbers in my Mana electorate have fallen by 20 percent in the last year. The drop is further evidence of a strong economy across New Zealand and across the regions. Times are better because people are getting off the benefit and into work. We have had good jobs growth and an overall reduction of people on any kind of benefit. The labour market is still tight, but our local economy is in good shape.

I want to end on this note. When people are in work they participate in the community, they contribute more, and they add to the social capital. I am very, very proud indeed to be part of a Labour-led Government that has turned the policies of the 1990s round. Yes, we have more work to do, but I am proud.

JUDY TURNER (Deputy Leader—United Future) Link to this

There were a number of noble signals from the Prime Minister in her statement this week that will, if delivered on—I say “if”—begin the small steps on New Zealand’s journey towards environmental responsibility, the small steps towards a tertiary sector that is better aligned with the needs of the workforce, the small steps towards sentencing reforms, and the small steps towards an improved national identity.

The Opposition has rightly countered that noble intentions do not an outcome make—that is true. However, I am interested in some of the issues not signalled in the Prime Minister’s statement that I believe need attention from this Government this year. At the risk of sounding like a dripping tap, I bring to the attention of the House the plight of kinship caregivers and, most importantly, that of grandparents raising grandchildren. These people step into the breach and foster family members. The status and circumstances that led children to have this need of foster care are exactly the same whether it is a non-family member or a family member who will care for them. Yet family members are expected to do the same task with substantially less financial support than all other caregivers.

United Future welcomes work by the Ministry of Social Development that has begun, but urges the Minister to make sure that these people, who have waited for a very long time for an improved outcome, see something that works in their favour.

Parents who choose to stay at home to raise their children are given some sort of recognition and support by this Government only if they are not partnered. United Future is pleased to announce that as part of our supply and confidence agreement with the Labour-led Government, background work that would need to be done on the issue of income splitting is being advanced. A tax system that takes into account how many mouths are fed from an income gives due recognition to the contribution of both parents when it comes to the raising of children.

The other issue I am keen to see progress on, which is also part of the supply and confidence agreement that United Future has with the Labour-led Government, is to look at the age at which tertiary students are assessed against parental income to determine whether they qualify for a living allowance. They are the only group in New Zealand that currently has to borrow to live. A young person who is on the dole will not be income tested against his or her parents. However, if that person decides to go to university or polytech and build a future for himself or herself, parental income will be brought into question. I think that is grossly unfair. Our agreement is that we will see some definite tracking down, at least, of the age at which young people are assessed against parental income.

I am really pleased, finally, to note that today in question time the Minister Ruth Dyson expressed her willingness to look seriously at the need to establish a Child, Youth and Family complaints authority. I say to the House that that situation demonstrates the advantage a minor party has in having a positive working relationship with the Government of the day. Not only do we get to see policy gains through our supply and confidence agreement but we also have the opportunity to respond to current issues and to be listened to and have our ideas considered and advanced.

Like most members in this House I get a steady stream of letters every week from families who have some complaint against the actions of Child, Youth and Family. As members of Parliament we do not have the resources to investigate and find out whether these complaints are valid in any way. But most of us would recognise that somebody should perform this role. We also support and call on the Government to better resource the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, which works at investigating those issues as they pertain to children. The complaints authority that we are calling for would pertain to adults who have complaints.

GORDON COPELAND (United Future) Link to this

Like my colleague Judy Turner I do not intend today to dwell very much on the content of the Prime Minister’s statement to the House, but rather to look at some of the things she did not mention that United Future believes are very, very important to the future of New Zealand, and should therefore not be overlooked. For example, no mention was made in the statement about the growing problem of housing affordability and, indeed, of rental affordability in New Zealand. These issues need to be urgently addressed. The data produced over the last couple of months indicates that much of this is driven by a combination of land supply shortage, and ever-higher subdivisional and new home building costs imposed by local authorities.

The economic equation is very simple. If the supply of land is greater than demand for land, then land prices, and, therefore, new housing and rental prices, will moderate. But when demand for new housing and new accommodation outstrips the supply of land, those prices will rise steeply. That is exactly what we have seen happening in New Zealand over the last 3 or 4 years. This is a tragedy for New Zealand and its families. Many families no longer share in the Kiwi dream of owning their own house, but instead are relegated, through a failed policy response to this crisis, to long-term rental situations.

Mention was made of New Zealand’s balance of payments deficit and the high interest rates in New Zealand, by both the Leader of the Opposition, John Key, and the leader of New Zealand First, the Rt Hon Winston Peters. However, neither of them mentioned the possibility of a currency union between Australia and New Zealand. Such a union should be explored, because it has the potential to create an effective 25 million - strong domestic market for New Zealand businesses and manufacturers and, because of the centralisation of monetary policy that would follow, to cut interest rates for New Zealand businesses and families. However, when invited to look at this by the Australian Parliament, Dr Michael Cullen was very quick to dismiss it. I urge him today to think again. It is an issue that needs to be explored.

Keeping safe in our communities from growing levels of violence was also mentioned in passing by the Prime Minister, but in my opinion without any evidence-based policy response that would be directed not at the symptoms but at the actual causes of our growing crime statistics. Frankly, I do not expect to see much change in the present situation while so many of our children are being raised without a dad at home, or while they can go through the New Zealand educational system without learning very much about the basic values of honesty and good citizenship.

It is time we looked at the causes of family breakdown and began to address them through a constructive policy response. Tariana Turia of the Māori Party mentioned that 53 percent of Māori males are now leaving the secondary school system of New Zealand without even basic qualifications. The latest information I have is that that figure almost exactly corresponds with the percentage of Māori children in New Zealand who, sadly, are growing up without a dad at home. The evidence of longitudinal studies internationally shows that while that situation persists, then failure in health and education will also persist. There is a direct correlation to whether there is a dad in the home, for reasons that will be obvious when we think it through. We need to get down to causes. We need to begin to build a fence at the top of the cliff. We have had too much policy that just brings another ambulance to the bottom of the cliff.

The Prime Minister mentioned safety on the streets and the Government’s priority to ensure that gang-related violence is eliminated. I wonder whether she has been to the Northcote area of Manukau. During my work on the prostitution law review I visited that area, and I was amazed to find a cocktail of prostitution, drugs, and gang activity all happening without any police presence on the ground. It is shameful to think that the only police who visit that area do not get out of their patrol cars, because they consider it to be too dangerous.

During 2007 I will continue to work on delivering key items of United Future’s confidence and supply agreement, for the benefit of New Zealanders. This will include the finalisation of plans to manage wild animals in New Zealand, such as deer, chamois, thar, and pigs—something that has been an issue in New Zealand for many years. I will also report back to the Government on our review of the Prostitution Reform Act, having regard to the street soliciting, under-age involvement, and the location of brothels. In conjunction with the Government we will also make further progress on the issue of water quality, with particular reference to agrarian runoff, and negotiate a public walking access along rivers and lakes. We will continue to make solid gains for New Zealand, using the power of three.

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Immigration) Link to this

Tihei mauri ora! Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa, o ngārōpū o te motu. I say welcome back to school to all the other parties here. It is good to see our colleagues here, and I say happy New Year to them.

I think it is good to be back in school, and to see all the friendly faces of the support teams. It is good to see Allan Peachey back in one piece. It is good to see our colleagues in the Māori Party, the Greens, New Zealand First, United Future, and of course my Labour colleagues. It is fantastic to be back on the team, in a very positive and upbeat mood at the start of a great year—a great year because it is great to be here in Government. It is great to be here serving the people of New Zealand.

I had a marvellous holiday. I do not know about the rest of you, but I took the family to the beach and we had some friends come in. I thought that Kiwis, wherever I met them, were in good humour. People were enjoying the sun—when it finally arrived. They were enjoying spending time with their families, and they were enjoying the fact that more of them were feeling secure in their jobs and good in their schools. I thought there was a very, very positive mood around New Zealand.

As I was lying there on my backside with my feet up, my cold beer in one hand, I asked myself, when I really thought about it, what it was that Kiwis wanted. I think, coming down to it, it is really very simple, is it not? They want a decent job so that they can provide for their families. They want to know they have a good school nearby to educate their children. They want to know that if their kids get sick or they get sick, there is a good public health system they can rely on. And they want to know that the beaches they enjoy swimming at, and the clean water that they drink, will be here not only for them but for their tamariki and their mokopuna. At that level, it ain’t complicated.

But the question before New Zealanders now at the start of this year, and in this debate on the Prime Minister’s statement—her vision—is the same question that we ask ourselves on the beach: which of the major parties here before us has the record to deliver on that vision to ordinary Kiwis? And that is not hard, either. Despite the millions that our opponents are able to spend on fancy consultants, focus groups, slick packaging, sound bites, YouTube, and MySpace, the reality is that we have been doing the mahi, we have been doing the work. We have put 300,000 people into jobs. We have cut the unemployment rate by 68 percent since we inherited the situation that Ruth Richardson and her friends left behind. In relation to my colleague Winnie Laban, I do not think I have heard a better or more eloquent exposition of that legacy in a good long time—kia ora, talofa, fa’afetai lava to Winnie.

So that is the choice before us. Is it a Government that has a proven record—it has the track record to prove it—and is committed to all the people of New Zealand, but particularly those who need a handout, who need an opportunity? Or do New Zealanders want to take the risk of somebody who cannot really decide, it seems, whether he is “Helen-lite” or a wolf in sheep’s clothing? There will be more on that in a moment.

I thought the Prime Minister’s speech earlier in this debate was extraordinary. It was extraordinary in its boldness and it was extraordinary in the breadth of its vision. I find it very difficult to understand how anybody could now say not only that Helen Clark is not a seasoned and pragmatic deliverer of change, but that she lacks vision. It is said of the leadership of the best leaders that when the job is done, people will look back and say: “Hey, we did it ourselves.” The job of leaders is to anticipate the way the world is moving, then to respond to the power given to them freely by the group, by the tribe, to move the group forward, and to face the future in a way that benefits all. Is not that the way Helen Clark works? Is not that the hallmark of this Labour Government?

Of course the world is changing. Of course it is getting more difficult and more complicated. As if globalisation, the rise of east Asia, the post-9/11 terrorism, and everything else was not complicated, for the first time since the cold war the doomsday clock has gone forward again. We understand that, once again, we are grappling with the possibility that the human species has the power to cause its own extinction. That is not an overstatement. I have seen some really serious research that predicts that by the time we take account of the slowness of the world’s political systems to respond to the reality that is climate change, and by the time we take into account the 50 to 100-year lag that exists from when we stop or reduce our emissions, to the climate of the planet rebalancing, it could well be too late. The Arctic tundra could thaw, the ice caps could have melted, and that in itself could release enough extra carbon into the atmosphere to continue the warming effect beyond our power to stop it.

If people are saying there is a rebalancing towards green issues in that statement, I say “amen” to that. It is not enough to get people in jobs. It is not enough to build good hospitals. It is not enough to have good schools. We have to have a planet that will sustain us, now and in the future. If that is not bold—to reflect the reality of that challenge in public policy from the Treasury benches—I do not know what is. I am proud to be a part of this Clark-Labour team. I am very proud to work with a team like Helen and Michael whom New Zealanders know not only have the vision but have the pragmatism and the management skills to deliver.

But, as I said, there is a contrast. On the other side of the House we have a man who I think is best described on the letterhead of the very apolitical and wonderful Business and Parliament Trust that I was flicking through. Here are the ways some people are described on the letterhead. These are the people who are on the trusteeship: Dr Pita Sharples CBE, MP, JP—a good list, I think—Mr Lindsay Tisch MP, JP; and Mr John Key MP, TBC. TBC seems to ring a bell with me. He is TBC, is he not? What do we know about him? He trumpets the fact that he was once a State house boy. I do not hold that against him. I am rather proud that he has made it. But what I cannot stomach is that this man who was the beneficiary of State intervention is dedicating his life to stopping other kids from getting the same chance. He is trying to sell the veneer that somehow he has discovered poverty, when we have been working on it for two decades, and that that is news.

HONE HARAWIRA (Māori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) Link to this

Tēnā koe, Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnātātou te Whare. E Shane, kaua koe e wareware ki te pakipaki mai a te mutunga o takukōrero.

[Do not forget to clap at the end of my speech, Shane.]

The Prime Minister flagged a number of good ideas in her speech the other day, but, in allowing her Government to support Transit’s mind-numbing decision to refuse to allow the Māori flag to be flown on the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day, she also flagged her Government’s support for petty bureaucracy, small-mindedness, and blockheaded racism. I say this because Transit and the Government have allowed us to be shown up by no less a country than Australia, for heaven’s sake—Australia, which we like to look down our noses at in respect of its horrendous treatment of indigenous people and which treat their tangata whenua as either sports heroes, artists, or drunks.

Shame on us, then, when a former Australian Commissioner for Indigenous Affairs can say at Waitangi that he is surprised Māori are not afforded the same rights as Aboriginals. I say this, because his views echoed those of thousands of others stunned at Transit saying that only national flags could fly on the bridge, when we can all remember the Loyal flag flying proudly from the bridge during the America’s Cup campaign. I had to laugh when I saw Brian Rudman’s article in the New Zealand Herald when he stated: “If it’s acceptable to fly the flags of such remote and democratically challenged countries as Albania and Lebanon atop the bridge to mark their national days, then how can flying the de facto Māori flag alongside the New Zealand ensign on Waitangi Day be deemed inappropriate?”. He said: “If I were in charge, I’d go further. I’d hijack that Māori tino rangatiratanga flag as our new national flag and fly it over the bridge—and elsewhere—permanently, posting the borrowed British naval ensign we’ve made do with for too long back to the admirals in Whitehall.”

When the hīkoi crossed the bridge in 2004 amid the howling protests of the rednecks, the fools, the foul-mouths, and the bigots there were no problems, no injuries, no traffic jams, no hassles, and no arrests. For all the foul weather, the day went off like a dream. So flying the flag on Waitangi Day should have been a no-brainer, a measure of our maturity as a nation, and a recognition of the partnership of which Waitangi Day speaks so eloquently. In the end, it flew with pride all over the country, except from the harbour bridge. Next year, hopefully, it will also fly with pride from the bridge that joins the nation’s finest electorate, Te Tai Tokerau, to the nation’s most boisterous, TamakiMakaurau.

In truth, the flag was not the only thing being ignored by the Crown on Waitangi Day. Indeed, I can recall a comment from a Minister of this very Government who said: “The omission of any reference to the Treaty would be interpreted by Māori as indicative of a less than whole-hearted commitment to the principle of partnership …”. My, my, my, how those words have come home to roost, for here we are in 2007 and what do we see? We see that same Government now voting to delete Treaty references, taking the Treaty out of the school curriculum, dropping Māori appointments to Government bodies, and denying Māori the right to the due process that all other Kiwis enjoy.

Denying Māori the right to fly their flag on Waitangi Day is symbolic of this Government’s flagrant denial of Māori rights and refusal to honour the Treaty of Waitangi. It was with that background of heavily politicised debate around the Treaty that I floated the idea of a Treaty Commissioner at Waitangi on 6 February 2007—an idea supported by Mr Shane Jones of the Labour Party. As a guide for that role, I looked to the late Laurie O’Reilly, Commissioner for Children from 1994 to 1998, a man who vigorously defined the role of protecting and promoting children’s rights. That is the role I see for a Treaty Commissioner: to protect and promote the rights of the Treaty and to encourage us all to uphold the Treaty as the very foundation of our nation—and I quote the Prime Minister herself, who said: “The basis of constitutional Government in this country is to be found in its founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi.”—to honour the vision of those who signed the Treaty, to promote the Treaty’s commitment to partnership, to support Māori rights to control all authority over their treasures, to ensure that Waitangi Day is meaningful to all citizens, to review any decision made in respect of the Treaty, to raise awareness and understanding of the Treaty, to be an advocate for the Treaty, and to promote the proper application of the Treaty in legislation.

The Treaty of Waitangi is this nation’s most revered and treasured document—indeed, our most important constitutional manuscript. Given the intensity of the debate that continues to rage around its validity, I would humbly suggest that a commissioner to protect and promote its interests is an idea whose time has well and truly arrived. Kia ora.

TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki) Link to this

Tēnā koe, Mr Deputy Speaker. Happy New Year to you and to everyone else. Ka nui te mihi ki a tātou.

If we were to apply National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) standards to the education system, the results would be as follows—Mr Peachey will appreciate this—“Unit Standard 756/3: Has demonstrated an ongoing ability to address the under-achievement of Maori students. Grade: Not achieved—no evidence.” The 1960 Hunn report revealed the failure of the Department of Education to provide equal educational opportunity for Māori. In 2006, the UN special rapporteur described the “underlying institutional and structural discrimination that Māori have long suffered.”, recommending an urgent need for more resourcing in Māori education.

Just for members’ benefit, “Unit Standard 978/2” reads: “Demonstrates an ability to provide robust analysis of Current Maori Educational Under-Achievement. Grade: Achieved with merit.” Last year the 2005 Education Review Office annual report identified some 20 percent of students currently not succeeding in our education system. It stated that 53 percent of Māori boys leave school with no qualifications, compared to 20 percent of Pākehā boys—awesome! School-leaver qualification figures show that only 9 percent of the Māori boys who left school in 2005 had university entrance. Only 47 percent of Māori school-leavers finished school with qualifications higher than NCEA level 1, compared to a massive 74 percent of European and 87 percent of Asian school-leavers. Such results are vividly demonstrated in recent league tables, in which New Zealand earned the second-highest level of relative educational inequality across the entire OECD. The scoreboard is profoundly affected by socio-economic status and ethnicity.

Here is another one: “Unit Standard 478/2: Demonstrates an ability to engage all students fully in the Education System. Grade: Not achieved with merit.” Today the Unicef report revealed that we are the lowest ranked out of 25 OECD countries for actually having kids in school between the ages of 15 and 19. The 2006 report on truancy highlights that truancy rates have climbed since 2004. The truancy rate for Māori is now double that of Asian and European rates. We are talking of a 15 percent absence rate for Māori, compared to a 10 percent absence rate for Europeans.

Here is one more: “Unit Standard 945/2: Has shown willingness to be responsive to Maori demands for education by acting on negative statistics to address Maori under-achievement. Grade: Not achieved.” The quest to learn for Māori children is being stifled by an arbitrary close-off policy designed to keep the cap on numbers of schools being established as kura kaupapa Māori. The door has also slammed shut for kōhanga reo. We are told that 20 hours of free early childhood education does not exist for kōhanga reo because, despite the fact that the whakapakari training package has been approved as a recognised New Zealand Qualifications Authority qualification, that qualification is not recognised for the 20 hours’ free early childhood education policy.

Yet evaluations of Māori-medium education prove that outcomes in community and whānau engagement are optimistic. Achievement outcomes are also positive. In 2005 Māori students in year 11 who were attending schools in which the medium was Māori had a higher rate of attaining NCEA qualifications than did Māori in other schools.

As my colleague Tariana Turia referenced in her speech earlier, the strategy is one of containment—a long-term social experiment. Well, the guinea pig is not an indigenous species to this land, and we will no longer accept being subjects for someone else’s gain. If we are truly to be responsive, why, when the Education Amendment Bill came to this House, did the Māori members of Labour not speak out about the changes that would impact on Te Rūnanganui o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori? So what is the overall assessment? “Grade: Not achieved.”

There are strategies, and there are excellent exemplars and mentors, that can make a difference. The challenge for the Government is to step up to the mark. There is also a raft of pilot programmes that do not succeed. The Māori Party believes that for our future to be bright we must develop and advance kaupapa Māori education options. If the State is unable to react with answers that have long been discussed by Māori educators and whānau, then perhaps it is time for the State to admit defeat. But there is a willingness to ensure, and a vested interest in ensuring, that the outcomes are far better than what this report card could ever achieve. Kei roto ingāringaringa o Te Ao Māori te hiahia, te kaha, kia tae atu ai Te Ao Māori ki ngā taumata o te mātauranga. Whakahokia te mana ki Te Ao Māori.

[The desire and capability for Māori to achieve in education is in Maoridom’s hands. Give that autonomy back to Māoridom.]

Hon DOVER SAMUELS (Minister of State) Link to this

Hūtia te rito o te harakeke, kei hea te komako, e kō? Whakatairangitia, rere ki uta, rere ki tai! Ka kī mai koe ki ahau, he aha te mea nui o tēnei ao? Māku e kī atu ki a koe, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata, e! If one takes the heart out of the cabbage tree, where will the bellbird fly? It will look to the sea; it will look to the heavens. If one were to ask me what the greatest thing on this Earth is, I would say it is people, it is people, it is people.

I am heartened by the welcome from my colleague David Cunliffe to all the members who have come back from a good holiday. Is it not beautiful to enjoy the great outdoors of Aotearoa—to be able to go out diving and fishing, to come back with one’s quota of kina, and to lie on the beach? Certainly, those days are very memorable for myself. Friends like Ron Mark, with his lovely lady, Chris, also came up to enjoy lying on the beach. Is it not beautiful to be able to enjoy the New Zealand lifestyle and the way of life that New Zealanders know how to enjoy? For me it was a most enjoyable holiday.

It was as I was lying there in my bikini, enjoying the sun of the far north—

ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) Link to this

I begin by thanking David Cunliffe for his words of welcome; I appreciated them. I also appreciated that the Minister would quote Ronald Reagan on leadership—well done!

JILL PETTIS (Labour) Link to this

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speake, and welcome to you at the beginning of this parliamentary year.

There have been a couple of comments made this afternoon about Waverley High School. Waverley High School is in an area which I have had the privilege of representing. Waverley High School has had problems for many years. A number of rurally based primary and secondary schools have had issues that have been avoided for too long. Although difficult decisions have to be made about the long-term educational opportunities for young people who live in the smaller towns in provincial New Zealand, this Government is not afraid to make them. Difficult decisions will have to be made—and have been made since Labour has been in Government. Educational opportunities for children are the key factor in any decision that will be made. I am somewhat mortified by the sanctimonious crocodile tears from the National members this afternoon, given that they failed to do anything when they had the opportunity to do so.

At the beginning of the week we had the Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament. This was a speech that was very forward-looking and was designed to set the agenda on issues of critical importance to New Zealand. The Prime Minister set out those plans and her speech let all New Zealand know what this Government wants to achieve for all New Zealanders—not just the minority.

In contrast to the Prime Minister’s positive, forward-looking, inclusive, and aspirational statements, Mr Key said very little about National’s plans when he gave his speech on Tuesday. In fact, Mr Key says very little about anything of substance, at all. When the hard questions are put to him by the media—and we have free and open media in New Zealand, which do ask inquiring questions—he very rarely has an answer. The question that was put to him, which is of a great deal of interest to me, was the one about his view on the 1981 Springbok Tour. The fact that he cannot remember what his view was in 1981 is absolutely remarkable when my children, who are much younger than Mr Key but were certainly at school when the 1981 tour was on, have a very clear memory of what their views were on that issue, even while they were at primary school.

Mr Key also does not have an answer for what National’s policy is on the critical issue of housing. He is assiduously avoiding responding to the question of what National is going to do about market rents. What is National going to do about its housing policy? Is it going to sell 11,000 more State houses—like it did when it was in power last time? Is it going to reimpose market rents? The National members have suddenly gone very quiet over on that side of the Chamber. In fact, National sold every single State house in the Wairarapa, which meant that there was no Government provision of State housing in the Wairarapa at all.

The other interesting thing about being in Parliament is that one gets to observe people very closely and not just hear them on the wireless. One gets to see the whites of their eyes, so to speak. One of the fascinating things about watching Mr Key over the last 2 days is that when he is sitting next to Mr English he is smiling with his mouth; he is controlling the muscles of his mouth but he is not smiling with his eyes. That is very, very revealing. Anybody can put on a forced smile with their mouth but the eyes have it. The eyes are the window into people’s souls. Mr Key knows that Mr English, who is sitting right beside him, is not his best friend. It reminds me of Mark Antony and Caesar. Mr Key may be trying to avoid the hard questions now but he will not be able to avoid Mr English’s ambitions forever. We all know the film The English Patient but we do not know the patient Mr English.

I also want to speak this afternoon about the critical issues that were referred to in the Prime Minister’s statement to the House. Those critical issues include climate change. We all know that John Key is a climate change denier. In fact, he avoids talking about this issue at every available opportunity. The world is talking about climate change; I tell him to go on to Google and have a look at what the leading newspapers of the world are saying. The world is talking about climate change but Mr Key is denying it.

One of the things that we also heard yesterday was the release of the Unicef report on child well-being in New Zealand. That report is made up of information that is not current but I still thought it was interesting to read. New Zealand has come a long way since the data the report was based on was compiled. It draws on 2001 data, and we have had a Labour Government for the last 7 years and considerable progress has been made, including rising incomes, increased employment, and fewer people who are now reliant on a benefit.

In fact, 115,000 fewer people are reliant on a benefit under a Labour Government. The Working for Families package saw $1.6 billion going to help low and middle income families. Market rents have been abolished by this Government, and income-related rents of $417 million a year provided, to help families. The Primary Health Care Strategy is reducing the cost of going to the doctor, and prescription charges are much, much lower under a Labour Government. Those people who are eligible to go to the doctor for reduced cost are now spread across a much wider age group.

Given the release of the Unicef report, I do not see how anybody cannot support the bill of Sue Bradford from the Green Party to repeal section 59 of the Crimes Act. The Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Bill is a forward-looking bill, and she was very brave to introduce it. I commend her for it and I certainly support the work that she has done on it. The public mood and attitude towards the repeal of section 59 is changing quite considerably. A lot of the scare tactics that have been used by those who are opposed to it are now starting to lose any credibility. I want to give thanks to Sue Bradford for her bravery and her forward-thinking actions. I want to thank groups like Barnados, EPOCH, the National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges, Plunket, Save the Children New Zealand, Unicef, and other kindred organisations that have done a huge amount of work on this. This bill will not criminalise loving parents.

SUE KEDGLEY (Green) Link to this

I thank Jill Pettis for her words of support for our colleague’s very courageous legislation, which we sincerely hope this House will pass shortly.

The Greens welcome the commitment to sustainability and to reducing our carbon footprint that was made in the Prime Minister’s statement. We eagerly look forward to seeing those fine words and commitments being put into reality. We look forward to the Government abandoning literally dozens of policies that are manifestly unsustainable—for example, allowing millions of chickens to be fed antibiotics continuously when they are not sick, and allowing millions of hens and pigs to be kept in cages and sow crates, in transgression of the Animal Welfare Act—and finally making a commitment to truly sustainable agriculture and organics, for example, so that we have more than a pitiful 0.24 percent of our agriculture in organic production.

We welcome too the Prime Minister’s remarks about reinforcing and celebrating our national identity. But we want to ask why a Prime Minister committed to enhancing our national identity is trying to ram through legislation in this Parliament—the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill—that will undermine our sovereignty and national identity. If this highly controversial and, indeed, sinister legislation goes through the House, New Zealanders will wake up in a number of years’ time and discover—I am sure to their horror—that we have transferred control of entire industries from this Parliament to an offshore, Australian-dominated organisation set up under Australian legislation, headquartered in Australia, and staffed primarily by Australians. They will wake up and discover to their horror that an unaccountable and unelected managing director—who I am sure will be Australian—has unprecedented and sweeping powers to make regulations that have the force of law in New Zealand but without ever having come to this House.

They will wake up and find to their horror that herbs and therapeutic products that have been used safely for centuries have become illegal. For example, 250 herbs that a local Chinese herbalist uses, and that the Food and Drug Administration has approved, are not permitted in Australia and will become illegal in a number of years if this bill goes through. New Zealanders will wake up and find a heavy-handed pharmaceutical regime being used on low-risk traditional herbal remedies. They will be horrified and will ask how this happened.

We have John Howard coming over here tomorrow to exert intense pressure on our colleagues in the National Party, including John Key, and to try to twist their arms—

NANDOR TANCZOS (Green) Link to this

When I heard the Prime Minister’s speech, my first reaction was to think that nothing shows that Green ideas have come of age more than to hear them expressed repeatedly in the Prime Minister’s statement at the opening of Parliament. She was absolutely correct when she said that New Zealand’s future is dependent on long-term sustainable strategies, and that also we face increasing pressure on our trade and tourism from competitors who are all too ready to use against us the distance our goods must travel to market. She said that by lowering our carbon footprint we strengthen our position against that kind of protectionism. The obvious question is what are we doing to reduce our carbon footprint.

Jeanette Fitzsimons has already pointed out the stupidity of the Government’s road-building extravaganza. Why on earth would the Government, at the same time as it is saying that we must lower our carbon footprint, be so determined to build masses of new roads, especially when we consider that transport emissions are the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions from New Zealand and that a fraction of the road-building budget would have an enormous impact if it were spent on rail, shipping, buses, and other transport modes?

Of course, New Zealand’s single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions is not transport; it is actually methane from farm animals. Is the Government any more committed to reducing agricultural emissions than it is transport emissions? Au contraire! The State-owned enterprise Landcorp Farming Ltd is currently in the process of clearing 25,000 hectares of carbon-fixing forest near Reporoa and turning it into pasture for dairying. It kind of negates the Prime Minister’s proud announcement of the investment to develop 30,000 hectares of permanent forest on NgātiPorou land on the East Coast. It is kind of like the sequestration square dance: “Take your partner by the hand. One step forward, one step back. Plant some forest and clear more land.” It is just bizarre.

But let me move to a warmer note. I was very pleased to hear the Prime Minister acknowledge the real importance of waste minimisation in regard to the environment. Of course, it has particular implications for climate change because of the methane emissions from landfills. She said that the Government will work with the Green Party on refinements to my Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill, which is currently before the Local Government and Environment Committee. She said that the Government wants effective legislation for some form of waste levy to help fund better waste minimisation infrastructure, and I welcome that.

She also expressed support for that legislation to include provisions for a regulatory backstop for product stewardship. These were very important statements, and I welcome them wholeheartedly. In particular, product stewardship, or the related concepts of extended producer responsibility, is vital if we are to reduce our waste mountain in this country, because it means that business has to take responsibility for the waste generated over the life of their products—that is to say, businesses have to start internalising the cost of their waste rather than externalising those costs and forcing ratepayers and taxpayers to pick up the tab. This is what is happening to date in this country and is why we have no way of getting on top not just of recycling waste but of minimising the amount of waste being generated in the first place.

Particularly interesting around product stewardship is that what is actually a cost when it is externalised on to the ratepayer often becomes a source of significant saving in a business when extended producer responsibility is introduced, because waste, by its very nature, is an unnecessary cost. So I welcome the statement of support for the Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill. I welcome the Government’s new-found commitment to sustainability, and I very much look forward to seeing them work with the Green Party in making that commitment real.

Just in the last few seconds before I finish, I want to say that I think it is important, in light of the discussions around sustainability, to reflect on the people who first raised these issues decades ago—people who suffered ridicule, harassment, discrimination, physical attack, and, in some countries, even murder, including by State agencies, simply for trying to wake people up to the realities our planet is facing today. So, lastly, I pay tribute to those brave and hardy souls who forged a path for us all. Kia ora.

Hon MITA RIRINUI (Minister of State) Link to this

Kia ora, Mr Deputy Speaker. Ngā mihi o te tauhōu ki a koe, otirā, ki a tātou katoa.

[Greetings of the new year to you and indeed to all of us.]

You know, Mr Deputy Speaker, I actually came into the House shortly after Dover Samuels had launched into his brilliant speech, and as I was thinking about what he was saying I became a bit envious. He talked about lying in the sun on the beach in the far north, soaking up the summer with his friend Ron Mark. It makes one think that this is a wonderful country. It really is, when two people from opposing parties, and opposing political viewpoints, can actually spend some time together in rest and recreation in the north, just relaxing. Yes, I am quite envious. But it shows that we are certainly a developing and vibrant nation.

I also heard some comments made by the Māori Party member Hone Harawira in terms of his observations around Waitangi Day. I have a lot of observations to share, too, and it is really about who we are as a nation. I did not attend the Waitangi Day celebrations; I very rarely do. The reason is that I attend my own in Tauranga Moana, where my people signed the Treaty of Waitangi. I do not go up north and trample over the mana of the Ngāpuhi just to make my point. I do that from my strength back in Tauranga.

Hone Harawira talked about the flag-flyers, the protesters, and the Auckland Harbour Bridge. I have come to the view, after observing the Waitangi celebrations this year, that protesting is actually out of fashion. People do not really want to do it any more, because the protesters of old are now the entrepreneurs of Māoridom. They do not march to Waitangi any more; they drive up in their BMWs, their limos, and their new cars. They still look pretty aggressive and pretty sharp, but they have done very well under this Government. “Ngāti Helensville” is well aware of that—he is actually one of them.

I will talk a little bit about how we celebrate Waitangi Day in Tauranga Moana. The Waitangi Day celebrations started on our mountain some time in about 1986. Those celebrations have continued ever since, year after year. They started with just a handful of us—10, I think, at the most—and over time we sent out invitations to the wider community to come and join us to celebrate. Over time the numbers have grown. But this year I observed a very unusual thing. A number of ethnic groups came to help us celebrate, to share in our celebration of being a nation, to get up in public to speak about who they are and where they come from, and to actually say thank you to the tangata whenua for the opportunity to come to this country in search of a better life—because that is what most of us are looking for.

I listened very carefully to the National Party member Allan Peachey’s speech. I welcome him back and I am glad to see him well. His speech was very similar to the tone of his new leader’s speech. Although the National Party is known for its splits and divisions, it is now known for being a party of discovery. National members have discovered that there are poor people in this country. It is unbelievable, but they have just discovered that there is underachievement in this country. They have just discovered that the health statistics in this country are not the best. Where have they been?

A lot of what we inherited as a Government in 1999 was because of the mean policies of that party when it was in Government in the 1990s. But now National members are in denial, as well. They do not know anything about poverty in the 1990s. The food bank is a good example. It was established in the 1990s during the time of a National Government.

PAULA BENNETT (National) Link to this

It is a pleasure to rise today to speak to the House. Actually, today is a special day for me; it is my daughter’s birthday. It is a moment of reflection at some level, and I was thinking that she is an adult, well and truly now, at 20-years-old. I was thinking about that and about how it has not all been smooth sailing—as it never is for a parent. There were those nights when I lay awake worried about her future and the occasions when I over-reacted and panicked as a parent in times of normal illnesses. Also, there were some of those teenage moments that test every bit of patience parents have. But I am incredibly proud of the woman my daughter is today.

That got me thinking about things, and I thought, you know, the Prime Minister just does not get it. She will be trying to follow in John Key’s footsteps today and convince some of the people in Ōwairaka that she does understand, but she does not and she simply cannot. She used to at least try to. She did not always get it, but she at least tried to get it. In the old days we saw her at least making a bit of an effort to try to get it. Now she is tired, and her Government is tired. Her statement of intent just proved the Government is tired. There are no new ideas, and the only thing Government members know how to do is to stand up and attack, and to attack John Key. “Criticise John Key” seems to have been the key message over the last few days. I can understand why the Government is worried about him. I have stood next to this man in the last few weeks as we have visited places like Barnardos, McGehan Close, and west and South Auckland—and he gets it; and it is not false, it is not forced, and it ain’t rhetoric.

Today was another example of a Government in pieces and a Government that does not get it. Its members know they simply cannot deliver on their promises. Let us talk about the fact that there will not be 20 free hours of early childhood education for thousands of 3 and 4-year-olds, and the Minister knew it before he announced the policy. Where do we start on this one? Through the Official Information Act we have Ministry of Education papers proving that the Minister knew that even if everything went perfectly with the Government’s promise of 20 free hours, and even if all early childhood centres were bought in, there would still not be enough places for the 92,000 eligible children.

MOANA MACKEY (Labour) Link to this

I am pleased to take a call in support of the Prime Minister’s speech earlier this week. I want to do two things. First of all, I pay tribute to my former colleague Helen Duncan who passed away last week. Helen was certainly an inspiration to me, as she was to many members in this House, and I record my extreme sadness at what was really an untimely passing. Second of all, I wish all members in this House a happy National Lamb Day.

Today marks the 125th anniversary of one of the most significant milestones in the history of New Zealand’s meat industry. It acknowledges the agricultural pioneers William Davidson and Thomas Brydone who, 125 years ago, were responsible for the arrival of 5,000 refrigerated sheep carcasses in London on 15 February 1882 in excellent condition, 98 days after leaving New Zealand. We should all reflect on just what they have done for the economy of this country. The Minister of Agriculture, Jim Anderton, appropriately described them as unsung Kiwi heroes. I think we all agree that they should get the recognition for what they have done for this country. What they did has meant that New Zealand could move its product into Europe. It is hard to quantify how much we as a country in 2007 owe to this innovation of the 1800s. It is amazing, when we consider it.

The sheep and beef industry contributes $5 billion a year to this economy and today’s anniversary is a timely reminder of how New Zealand has always been at the forefront of change and innovation in the primary sectors. The fact that we are distant from our markets has always been used against us, but we have always been smart enough to see the writing on the wall and to adapt ourselves accordingly. That is why the Prime Minister’s address was so crucial. Even if people do not care about climate change and saving the planet, and even if they do not care that generations down the track may not be able to farm in this part of the world—if they do not care about all that and they do not believe in climate change—they probably do believe in the fact that we will suffer the consequences of being locked out of these crucial overseas markets if we do nothing. We can see that this is already happening, with big chains in the UK announcing that they are going to list carbon miles. This challenge is already upon us, so even if people do not care about the actual issue, maybe they can recognise that we need to move ahead and take this seriously.

Was not the reaction of National MPs during the Prime Minister’s speech interesting when climate change and sustainability issues were raised? They were completely dismissive; it was a joke. They laughed, because at the end of the day I suspect that a lot of National MPs are not really committed to this issue except that it is becoming one of public concern. It is becoming a hallmark of this English-Key leadership that they are telling people what they think people want to hear. In 2005 Mr Key said he thought climate change was a hoax and was suspicious that global warming even existed. Now he is saying that he has always believed in it and wanted to do something about it. We are going to get used to this because Mr Key is modelling himself, quite shamelessly, on David Cameron. David Cameron, the UK Conservative leader, has come out on climate change. He even rode a bicycle to work but his ministerial car followed behind him.

The other person that Mr Key appears to be modelling himself on is Mr Mark Latham from the Australian Labor Party. If members do a check on Mr Key’s famous speech at Burnside, they will find that a lot of it was taken exactly from Mr Latham’s speech to the Australian Labor Party conference. So every time Mr Key stands up and says anything we have to ask who said it first and whose idea it was previously.