General Debate

Dr KENNEDY GRAHAM (Green) Link to this

I move, That the House take note of miscellaneous business. In May I addressed the crisis we are facing in Christchurch following the February earthquake. I said then that knowing the challenges ahead of us in what is now the new normal, we need to engender a sense of hope in the community. Since then I have convened a series of public forums in Christchurch, marrying local expertise and civic engagement in order to develop a vision of a future 21st century eco-city. In August I released my report, The Future of Christchurch, with copies going to Minister Brownlee and the parliamentary forum, Environment Canterbury, the city council, and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority. I thanked the Government for its commendation of the report when I tabled it in Parliament recently.

My report contains 26 recommendations identifying four overarching goals. They are resilience, sustainability, harmony, and beauty. This parallels the council’s own plan, which conveys a green message from the people of Christchurch about the kind of city they want. But my report goes further and wider, because a necessary condition of a sustainable, harmonious, and beautiful city is its resilience, and resilience requires us to think ahead. One of my recommendations is to extend the planning period for the recovery strategy and the city plan from 9 months to 18 months, and to stipulate a time horizon of 100 years with identified milestones of 5, 20, and 50 years within that period. It is only within the context of such a long-term horizon that the issue of a city’s resilience comes into focus.

That addresses two main considerations: the seismic nature of the land and sea level rise. With regard to the seismicity of the land, we all know that the aftershocks are expected to continue into the indefinite future, with an 82 percent chance of a significant shock over magnitude 5 in the next year. That is a major complication for any rebuild—short term or long term. We remain uncertain over the true nature of the land under the city. A geotechnical report commissioned by the royal commission and released last week regards the land under Christchurch as problematic. The inner city is built largely on liquefaction-prone soil, making it complex and challenging to construct earthquake-resistant buildings on it. The ground is only 1 to 1½ metres above the water table and is riddled with aquifers and streams. The report states that the foundation conditions of the city are complex and challenging for geotechnical engineers, in regard to their performance in strong earthquakes. Buildings on liquefaction-prone soil need robust, shallow foundations, often accompanied by deep piles anchored to solid rock that is 25 metres below the ground. Tougher seismic foundation standards need to be considered. The report concludes: “One may argue that the current philosophy … does not address the issues of the overall impact of big earthquakes on a city or a country, and the need for a reasonably quick recovery …”. So what might be the limits when an engineer would acknowledge that rebuilding on the site of the original city should be abandoned? Some engineers have said the limit is a 1:4 chance of a similar earthquake over the next 50 years.

In my report I called on the Government to do two things prior to the rebuild. First, Greater Christchurch should be declared by Parliament to be an issue of national significance. A conference should be convened after the election, with political leaders, scientific advisers, and corporate and civic leaders present to consider the recovery plan. The conference should address the issue of rebuilding Christchurch on its present location, having regard to the basic features of land contour and composition, waterways, and climate. Second, following the conference, Parliament should agree to a motion that Christchurch should be rebuilt on its present location, in the event that such a political judgment rests on sound, publicly transparent scientific advice.

Concerning sea level rise, my report recommends an alteration to the city plan, acknowledging a possible sea level rise of 2 metres by 2100 and specifying minimum finished floor levels accordingly. This would include automatic review of the issue in light of evolving scientific work in each of the reports of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as they come out.

It appears that neither the council’s draft city plan nor the draft recovery strategy of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority focuses on these prior resilience issues that will, none the less, determine the fate of Christchurch. I call on the Government to act on these recommendations before it is too late.

Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) Link to this

Over the next few years, New Zealand has a great opportunity to build on the solid foundations of faster growth, a stronger economy, and more jobs and opportunities here in New Zealand. The National-led Government has a plan to take New Zealand forward by reducing our debt, getting our country back into surplus over the next 3 years, and building a faster-growing, stronger economy based on an export-led recovery. That is the direction that the John Key - led Government offers New Zealanders; it offers a determination to improve our economy, to improve the opportunities, and to give people the tools to empower themselves and their families to enjoy the sorts of futures that they want.

As a result of our efforts over the last 2 to 3 years, New Zealand is much better placed than many other countries to manage what is a very uncertain global environment. Members need only read the international section of their newspapers to see what is happening, and they need only watch the international television stations on Sky to see how uncertain the international environment is. They can see what other countries are doing, and they can see the very moderate and future-focused way this Government has responded. In Britain, half a million public servants are to lose their jobs over the next 3 or 4 years. In France, 100,000 public servants are to lose their jobs in the next few years. All around Ireland and in other parts of Europe there will be 15 percent pay cuts to the salaries of public servants, teachers, and nurses. There are difficult times in Greece where the economy is teetering on the brink of collapse. There is significant retrenchment in its economy.

But here in New Zealand we have been able to steer the economy through these difficult times and ensure that New Zealanders have been able to avoid the sharp edges of that economic difficulty. This Government has had a responsible and steady hand at the front of this economy, and right up there has been our Prime Minister, John Key, who has been able to use his international experience to help the New Zealand economy.

At the same time, the Government has remained firmly committed to growing and protecting important social services here in New Zealand. Not only has the Minister of Education put 1,600 extra teachers in front of classrooms in New Zealand but also she has invested $100 million extra in early childhood education, which is the most money ever spent on early childhood education. That is record levels of spending on early childhood education, and she is focusing on the kids who are most vulnerable and who are not getting access to early childhood education. That is the leadership that we have had from the Minister of Education, Anne Tolley, who has brought national standards into our schools. She will be horrified to know that a Labour Government would remove national standards from our schools. We would go back to those low standards, back to the messiness and the “unions know best” approach to education.

In the public health service we have invested $1.5 billion of extra money into our public hospitals. That is 800 extra doctors and 2,000 extra nurses on the district health board payrolls. It is great to have the staff, but what is the benefit for patients? What we know is we have record levels of elective surgery in New Zealand. There are 27,000 extra operations a year being performed for New Zealanders. That is hips, cataracts, ear, nose, and throat operations, and hernias—27,000 extra operations. That is 500 extra operations a week under the National Government. Since we were elected we have had 23,000 more elective operations for people over the age of 65.

Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) Link to this

Five years ago the Labour Government secured a major achievement for New Zealand: the right to host the Rugby World Cup. That was fantastic. It was a fantastic opportunity to have the Rugby World Cup on our own ground in front of our own supporters and for the All Blacks to win. It was fantastic because it gave us the opportunity to showcase New Zealand to an audience of 4 billion people. It was fantastic because it is likely to bring this country, ultimately, $1 billion.

Everything is there to make this cup a huge success. We have the public enthusiasm. We see the Samoan and the Tongan flags flying around my electorate—it is really good. We saw a good opening at the ground and we saw some really good rugby, particularly the Wales and South Africa match. But I have to say that last Friday’s debacle really let down New Zealand. We saw the failure of our transport system to deliver, the loss of opportunity—a lifetime opportunity—for those folk who had saved for months and months to come to the game from South Auckland, the risk that those people were put at, and the absolute chaos around the waterfront area. Les Geller, who is an intensive care specialist at Auckland City Hospital, said we were really lucky that nobody died in that mess.

I expect the Government to front up, to take its share of responsibility, and to do something constructive about it. It is not for this Government to put the blame on everybody else. “It was the Auckland super-city’s fault.” Well, that Government created it. “It was Auckland Transport.” Well, that Government set up the council-controlled organisation and appointed most of the board. Then it was Veolia Transport’s fault and then Mr Key said it was the fault of somebody on the train who pushed the emergency button. Well, they pushed the button because kids were fainting, old people were ill, they had sat there for an hour, and the transport system had failed. But the Prime Minister blamed the people in the carriage.

If anybody should take responsibility it is Prime Minister Key. It was his insistence that the whole focus would be on party central on Queens Wharf. It was not a suitable venue. It was too small. It held 12,000 people, and we know from Christmas in the Park that several hundred thousand people turn up at these events. Why did the organisers have the fireworks down there, why did they have the concert down there, when they knew that Michael Barnett had told Murray McCully that probably 150,000 people would turn up? They were told. They were warned. It was their idea. Why do they not man up and accept responsibility for it?

When it comes to accepting responsibility, that implies also the responsibility to get it right. So what did Ministers do? They used the empowering legislation not before the event, when they could have planned and worked with the council to put in place special measures, but after the event as a damage control measure. They then play politics with it by embarrassing and humiliating the council—saying it was the council’s fault—instead of looking for a joint plan of action and working constructively with the super-city to get it right. I tell this Government that it has to get it right. I tell Murray McCully and Steven Joyce that I accepted their assurances that everything was fine. I believed John Key when he said everything was in place. It was not in place.

There was an absolute failure of ministerial oversight in this. What do we get at the end of that process? This debacle meant that Pacific Islands Forum leaders said they would not go downtown because they feared for their safety, it meant that papers from TheHindu and the China Post to the Winnipeg Free Press are reporting on New Zealand as a country that failed. That is not what the Labour Government wanted when it secured the Rugby World Cup for New Zealand. It wanted to showcase our beautiful country and say that we are competent, that we can run these things. But our Government, first of all, let us down and then, I say to Mr Williamson, would not accept responsibility for where it had got it wrong.

Why was it that we were told by Steven Joyce that there were contingency plans in place for the transport system? There were no contingency plans. This Government has got it wrong. Even in trying to address and clean up the mess those members are still playing politics by blaming everyone but themselves.

Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) Link to this

In that speech from the Hon Phil Goff we saw the negativity of the Labour Party. We saw the Hobbit haters, the Rugby World Cup droppers, the people who do not like to celebrate New Zealand for all that it is and for all that it achieves.

I proudly stand here as an Aucklander and as someone who is proud of our city and what it achieved on Friday night. It was an outstanding match. It was an outstanding Rugby World Cup opening. The people there had smiles on their faces, pride in their country, and pride in what they were achieving. They are proud of themselves and of what they are doing, and we stand next to them, as the National Government, in that. Aucklanders are proud of their city. Yes, they have a waterfront that they want to show off and be a part of. I think that is fantastic.

This Rugby World Cup has brought aspiration, hope, and pride to New Zealanders. That is something we should be celebrating—celebrating the successes. But instead all we hear repeatedly from the other side of the House is just the relentless negativity of what is wrong, what is wrong, what is wrong. Those members will talk it up and talk it up as much as they possibly can. I say paint it black, and I say be proud of our rugby team; be proud of our country, and be proud of what we can achieve. Although there are lessons to be learnt, there is one thing that is absolutely sure, and that is that New Zealanders are ready to learn them, and they are ready to do better—because we can.

We see it in employment, as well. We constantly get: “It is dire, it is negative, nothing is happening.”, and it suits Labour to talk that up completely, that there are absolutely no jobs for anyone. Does Labour count the 7,225 people who went off the benefit just last month—just last month—to go into jobs?

Hon SHANE JONES (Labour) Link to this

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Firstly, it is important to acknowledge, in respect of the fiasco around the Rugby World Cup on Friday night, that there actually were service workers who tried their hardest, and there were security people—no doubt enjoying very minimal wages—who were stressed and trying their hardest. There were the police who tried their hardest. The person who did not try his hardest was the Prime Minister, who went to Eden Park, exploited an opportunity, delivered a half-baked, insipid speech, and deliberately went out of his way to show that he does not govern for all New Zealanders. He waited for a manene, he waited for a visiting European, to bring just a small measure of our indigenous language into a greeting. When the Prime Minister did that it showed that he was willing to exploit the limelight, but that when the acid was going to come on him, he would run from the attention.

Why are we angry on this side of the House? There are concerns about the health of the young people, because a number of us in this House were down at the Viaduct Basin on Friday night, where we saw the thronging crowd, and we saw the poor organisation. We were deeply fearful that had there been a spark of incivility, had there been a spark of violence, bad planning would mean our security forces would never have coped. We should congratulate the majority of the Kiwis, largely young people, who were there and who answered the call. Unfortunately, it has proven to be a siren call from the Prime Minister: “Come and party!”; “Haere mai ki te whakangahau!”

Well, he obviously thought he could use those terms a year, 18 months, or 2 years ago, and that would overlap in terms of a feel-good factor for the election. Well, it does not feel good now, because media around the world have picked up on that egregious lapse of organisation. It is inevitable that the Government wants to blame someone else, because we have never had a Prime Minister more skilful at shifting liability, or shifting the blame. New Zealanders know, and they are not happy at the prospect of a showcase like this being used to diminish our reputation internationally. The media had every right to ask questions.

Of course, the majority of people who managed to get there on time had a fantastic opportunity to see some of the finest sentiments showcased at Eden Park. We had the Pasifika influence, the Māori influence, and we had the broad Kiwi influence. What we did not have was a Prime Minister showing the influence of his office and agreeing to stand up and be counted.

What did the Government do? It blamed the hapless Len Brown, who had no formal authority, and who has no power whatsoever over Auckland Transport, and, indeed, who has very little influence over its budget. To make matters worse, the Government then invited Minister Steven Joyce to further humiliate the super-city. The super-city is an autonomous unit, but in this case it is not responsible for the debacle that we saw in terms of the failure in security and crowd control, and in the transport woes that the Auckland Council is endeavouring to fix up. Every time it comes up with an innovative idea that might have reduced the prospect of what we are dealing with in terms of Rugby World Cup transportation, it is humiliated. It is a further example of a small coterie of Cabinet Ministers who intensely dislike Len Brown. They will not rest until they have had the opportunity to wear the man down.

The real agenda here is not to improve the prospects of running the Rugby World Cup for the next 7 or 8 weeks; the Government is using it as an opportunity to humiliate and deprecate a person who has a larger mandate than any single member of the House. We should call it on that. This is being done under the cloak of the Rugby World Cup fiasco to settle personal political scores. No one is doing it with more alacrity than Steven Joyce. He is the man who the National MPs tell us has the nickname of “Figjam”. We want to hear about the problems of traffic jams and the solutions to traffic jams.

I will go on to explain why we hold the Prime Minister to account. It is not good enough to want to bask in the glory of the work that Helen Clark and Tana Umaga did in actually securing that concession for New Zealand. When the Prime Minister stands we want him to be the Prime Minister for all New Zealanders, and we want him to be a Prime Minister who stands up and is willing to be counted when things go wrong, because inevitably things do not always go swimmingly well. But what we see is a person who not only is willing to blame Len Brown but also is unwilling to take responsibility. As a consequence of this, National’s election campaign does not look flash.

NICKY WAGNER (National) Link to this

I watched the Rugby World Cup opening from the fanzone in Hagley Park in Christchurch, and I was proud to be a New Zealander. But right now I will talk about National’s blue-green agenda and the significant environmental achievements we have made in the last 3 years.

It was really interesting when last night we introduced the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill to protect and manage the seas around the New Zealand coast. The bill was supported right across the House by the Greens, by the Māori Party, by ACT, and by United Future—everybody except Labour. That does not make any sense to me. It is that constant negativity. The exclusive economic zone right now has no protection, and Labour does not want it to get any. That is totally irresponsible.

A couple of weeks ago Labour voted against the Freedom Camping Bill. That legislation is to stop our beautiful, pristine environment from being fouled and damaged. I do not get that Labour decision either. It seems that in Labour’s effort to try to differentiate itself from National, it is happy to sacrifice the environment, and that is not good enough.

Dr Nick Smith and the Bluegreens have worked hard over the past 3 years to clean up our existing environmental problems and to give a new, environmentally friendly agenda. We have had some good results. In 2010 we had the cleanest air ever recorded in New Zealand. That success is mostly due to the Clean Heat programme. In the last 3 years we have converted 26,000 homes to clean-heating appliances. Labour converted only 800 in its 9 years—800. We have been working with the Greens on the Warm Up New Zealand insulation programme, and have refitted 100,000 homes. Labour refitted 5,000 in its time. This insulation project has much wider benefits to health and well-being for New Zealand families right across the country. We are continuing that programme in Christchurch as we repair houses there.

We are also cleaning up waterways and contaminated sites such as the Tūī Mine, which has been a blot on the Coromandel landscape, and lakes and rivers all across the country. In these tough economic times we are spending nearly $100 million on clean-ups. That is five times as much as Labour spent in 9 long years when it was responsible for looking after our waterways.

I was delighted to join Nick Smith recently when we signed up to the big clean-up of Lake Ellesmere, Te Waihora. We are working together with Ngāi Tahu, Environment Canterbury, and Fonterra, so we have round the table all the people who can make this happen. It is a real step forward.

We are also keen to see the collaborative model working across the country. It is what underpins the Land and Water Forum. Fifty-four stakeholders from all parts of our community are working together to develop a long-lasting framework to manage water quality and water quantity. That is another important milestone.

We are making progress in Canterbury, too, by pushing forward the community-focused Canterbury Water Management Strategy and zone committees, and they are doing very good work.

Our moderated emissions trading scheme is also working well. We are on track to meeting our Kyoto Protocol targets, which will save the country $470 billion. It is a sensible, practical policy that is really delivering. Helen Clark talked a lot about being carbon neutral, but during her time emissions increased by 23 percent. In the last 2 years, without any fanfare, under National emissions have dropped by 4 percent. Forestry is also important for managing carbon, and during Labour’s last 3 years it chopped down 15 million trees—

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

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Because we will talk about the Rugby World Cup tomorrow, let me take members to another place. I will talk about today in history.

I for one have had the honour and privilege of meeting and talking to Corporal Willie Apiata VC. There is something special about that man that is hard to describe. There is sort of an awe, a mana, to him. I am sure that Mr Speaker would have come across that, having met him. Although he is not someone who wants to share the spotlight too much in any sort of way, on receiving the Victoria Cross he had some really good messages, which I want to share with everyone. He explained that we are all carriers of information, and he says that his aim, before they start shovelling the soil on top of him, is to hand over to the young people what he has been taught, because it does not belong to him. It was passed down by the people he grew up with, and they did not keep it to themselves.

I like to think that Māori Party members share the same philosophy with Corporal Willie Apiata. We acknowledge the past for the progress that has been made to date. We do our best to ensure that goals are being met and that new goals continue to be set, always in the pursuit of rangatiratanga, the desire to look after our own affairs. So today I stand here on 14 September 2011 remembering those carriers of information, those who fought to change their world by using their influence and by inspiring others to do just as they had done.

On 14 September 1894 Mahuta Tāwhiao Pōtatau Te Wherowhero was elected the third Māori King. He went on to persuade many Waikato landowners to take up the land development scheme led by Te Pūea Hērangi. He was later described by Sir Apirana Ngata as being a great influence for progress, and had he lived longer he would have been one of the greatest champions of land settlement.

I remember the information carriers, such as Hana Te Hēmara Jackson, who with the support of Ngā Tamatoa and the Te Reo Māori Society presented the Māori language petition to Parliament in 1972. I acknowledge the strong Māori language supporters, such as Matiu Rata and Whetū Tirikātene-Sullivan—two former Māori MPs who stood at the steps of this Parliament to receive the petition, which significantly led to the declaration that 14 September be the first Māori language day. Today is a really significant day in the Māori calendar.

The publication of Te Karanga a Te Kotuku in 1974 drew attention to the issues facing Māori in regards to land ownership and its struggles. Its author, the late Saana Murray, fought for the land rights of her people, Ngāti Kurī, and for all Māori. On this day in 1975, from her papakāinga in Te Hāpua, the historic 1975 Māori Land March departed for Wellington led by Dame Whina Cooper. When the 1975 hīkoi marched across the Auckland Harbour Bridge, it was led by Joe Hawke of Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei. Eighteen months later Joe and his whānau led the occupation of Bastion Point, and Joe, of course, is another former MP.

During the same period Eva Rickard—supported by Tama Poata, John Hippolite, and others—occupied the Raglan golf course to protest its seizure from Māori owners. Some years later, with Saana Murray and the late Dell Wīhongi and others, they lodged the Wai 262 claim for rangatiratanga over taonga tuku iho. It took direct action at Raglan and Bastion Point for the public and the Government to recognise the injustice, but in due course the lands were returned. Wai 262, of course, is now an issue for us to settle for future generations. Land rights protests prompted Matiu Rata to draft the Treaty of Waitangi Act, passed in 1975, which established the Waitangi Tribunal and a mechanism for addressing historic injustices against Māori.

So Mahuta Tāwhiao Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, Hana Te Hēmara Jackson, Matiu Rata, Saana Murray, Dame Whina Cooper, and Whetū Tirikātene-Sullivan were all carriers of information who left behind a legacy. Today the Māori Party advances this legacy right into the lion’s den of te kāwanatanga, taking New Zealand into the future but with Māori at the table. The Māori Party was born out of the greatest land grab of all time—and the Labour Party can shout—the confiscation of te takutai moana.

Today we have abolished Crown title, restored the jurisdiction of the courts, and reopened a proper process for determining ownership of the foreshore and seabed. We have helped to restore te reo Māori to its rightful place in this House, as a symbol of the mana of all New Zealanders. Simultaneous translation helps all of us to understand te reo Māori. Today is an important day in the Māori calendar. I stand here on behalf of the Māori Party to salute those who have gone before me and to accept our responsibilities to pass on that heritage.

DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert) Link to this

I was one of the very lucky ones who were able to get to Eden Park on Friday night. I have to say to Ms Dyson that it was a terrific night to park in my electorate. It was a great night. The opening ceremony literally brought tears to my eyes. Like a lot of other people I was very proud to be a New Zealander, and proud to see how our country and our diversity was portrayed and to see that we could have an opening like that that was positively world-beating. It was a great game too. It was not a great technical game of rugby, but it was a good game. It was good to see the Tongans really giving it, particularly in the second half. Auckland itself has been alive with red flags, certainly all over my electorate and around the place. I do not have any problem with red flags all over Auckland.

But the night was soured by events that did not go so well elsewhere. Our transport did not stack up as we thought it would. It was never great from the start, and it certainly did not stack up. There were too many people down at the waterfront—370,000 people made it down there on Friday. On a normal day 240,000 would be using our transport system. The Government announced that it wanted to have party central down at the waterfront. It said: “Come on down to party central!”. The area held only 12,000 people, but the Government encouraged everybody to go down there. There was the biggest fireworks display in New Zealand’s history. Why would people not go down there on a great night to celebrate? So they went down, and what happened? They certainly did not get the reception that we wanted.

That was bad enough—that was bad enough—but that is fixable. We can do something about that. The council sat down on Friday night and said: “This isn’t what we wanted; this isn’t what we expected. Let’s see what’s wrong and see how we can fix it.” But instead of that we have had a whole lot of finger-pointing by this Government—a whole lot of finger-pointing, particularly by Mr McCully. He swans in like he is some sort of tinpot banana republic dictator and tells everybody what he is going to do. He brings in his Wellington jackboot crowd, his bureaucrats, who think that somehow they can tell Auckland, a city of 1.4 million people, how to run their show and how to do it better. This is exactly what we do not want in Auckland. We do not want somebody who micro-manages a city right down to the colour of their costumes and T-shirts, and who gets to say who sits in which corporate box and who does not. We want somebody who can work with our council, who can sit down with our council and work out what went wrong and how we can do it better so that Auckland can turn on exactly what we want it to. And it can—it can.

The thing that is most galling about this is not the fact that things did not work—that was bad enough—but the reaction from the Government of wanting to shift blame away from itself and on to the Auckland Council. McCully came walking in with not even the courtesy of a phone call to our mayor—not even the courtesy of picking up the phone and saying he is taking over. He just came in and said he is going to declare martial law down on Auckland’s waterfront.

There is another way to do this, which is to sit down and get on with the Auckland Council and do it together—do it together—so that we have a good outcome in the future and not a bad one. We have ended up with, basically, a peeing competition between Mr McCully, Mr Joyce, and Mr Key about who will really be in charge of the Rugby World Cup. We do not need this. We do not want Auckland to be portrayed around the world as some sort of banana republic. The International Rugby Board said to a number of people I know that it understands that the transport did not work very well. It did not work very well in France either when the Rugby World Cup was handled there. But we did not expect the Minister for the Rugby World Cup to come launching in like some banana republic dictator and lord it over everybody else. All that did was put the story into the international pages; it did not actually solve the problem. At the end of the day, the Auckland Council will still have to get on and do exactly what it needs to do, which is to quietly get on and fix it.

JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) Link to this

The National-led Government came to office with a steely determination to turn the tables on crime so that it is no longer victims who pay. As a child living in Taranaki, every summer we went on holiday across the country. We left home with our back door unlocked. We did that every summer. Honesty and respect for other people’s property was the prevailing attitude in our country, which made this one of the great places to live in the world. In recent years, many New Zealanders would have looked on in dismay at some of the values that underpin our good and decent society being eroded. When this Government came to office, there was a strong feeling in the community that crime needed to be attended to. It was out of control and the scales of justice were tilted too far in favour of criminals rather than victims.

Our position is that although we understand that the drivers of crime can pervade communities for generations, crime must never be an accepted activity and it must always be resisted and never tolerated. We have worked very hard over this last term to bring some changes, which we are seeing the benefit of in our country. It is why law and order continues to be one of the Government’s biggest priorities. The good news is that under the National-led Government the crime rate has dropped by 6.9 percent per head of population. We have passed 18 new laws to make families safer in their communities and in their homes. We are addressing the drivers of crime with a range of cross-agency initiatives. These address behavioural issues in young children, reduce harm caused by alcohol, offer alternative approaches to managing low-level offenders, and offer pathways out of offending. I am very proud to be part of a Government that has delivered, and is delivering, a better and safer society.

One of the biggest law and order issues facing this country is the spread of organised crime. I am sure members will be aware, as many others will be, that in recent months Australia’s largest and most troublesome outlaw motorcycle gang, the Rebels Motorcycle Club, has been attempting to set up base here in New Zealand. The evidence is that gangs are no longer groups of small-time thugs. They have large criminal businesses with global connections and they have a willingness to use violence. Of course, the game-changer around all of this has been methamphetamine. The vast amount of money that can be made from the sale of this drug has brought gangs wealth and influence previously unheard of. The police estimate that the combined profit from methamphetamine and cannabis sales alone in New Zealand is between $1.4 billion and $2.2 billion per year in New Zealand. Our Government has led the charge in its fight against drugs. We are fighting a war against P. In 2010 P busts took $30.4 million worth of P off the streets. Of course, one of the biggest concerns is that when criminals gain access to large amounts of money, it increases the possibility of corruption taking root. It has been very important to address this issue.

On 1 September, not long ago—just over a couple of weeks ago—it was reported that every known patched member of the Rebels Motorcycle Club gang in Taranaki was locked up on that day, following a massive police hunt. The police executed search warrants at 13 addresses in New Plymouth, one in Ōtaki, one in Auckland, and seven in Northland. Ten vehicles were located and searched in New Plymouth. In stark contrast to this, it was only 3 years ago that New Plymouth was voted New Zealand’s top city, heading off Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland as the best place in New Zealand to live, love, work, and raise a family. This gang from Australia, which seeks to come and pillage our society and sell its drugs, has sought to take root in the province that I come from and the city in which I live. I say congratulations to the police and well done to the National-led Government on its war against P, which has seen New Plymouth eradicate these sorts of problems. The people of New Plymouth will no doubt be thankful, and I am sure their support will come forth on 26 November this year.

Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) Link to this

I acknowledge the member who has just spoken, Jonathan Young. I think he is an underrated National member. In fact, I was just commenting to my colleague that four members sitting in the back row are underrated by National.

AARON GILMORE (National) Link to this

It is always a pleasure to follow the member who I understand is the Labour Party campaign manager, given that he spends more of his time cycling and talking about what is going on in every other place in New Zealand, rather than focusing on the Labour Party campaign. In fact, only today the Listener has put out this great double-page spread, looking at the wonderful candidates for leadership in the Labour Party. They are all posing. Mr Shearer is there, but there is no Mr Mallard. The two “Camp Davids” are there, and Mr Jones is there.

I want to touch on one of the things about the great Mr Jones. All we have heard about from the Labour Party in this debate is the Rugby World Cup. The pleasure was mine to go to the Rugby World Cup opening. We went on a train. Mr Woodhouse and I sat on a train for 35 minutes with all the other New Zealanders. The thing is, nearly 2 million New Zealanders watched the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony and the opening game—2 million New Zealanders—and all the Labour Party cares about is a very, very small number who became very upset because they could not get to the game on time. That is why the Government has brought in the regime that it put in place yesterday.

You see, Labour members are not worried about the many; they are worried about the few. They are worried about the things that put the Labour Party leader at 7 percent in the polls, but National is focused on those things that matter. It is not about voodoo, it is not about the scary thoughts of what may or may not happen, it is about the economy. It is all about the economy. The National John Key - led Government has achieved many things in the economy. It put in place a tax reform package that benefits most New Zealanders. It put in place—in a very uncertain global financial environment—a mechanism where in the space of collapsing economies throughout Europe, riots throughout Western Europe in particular, massive unemployment in the US, and huge debts rising across the Western World, we have an economy that has set the confidence of people to invest in this country across the board.

We have lowered taxes at a time when other countries in the world are raising them. We have put in place a regime where our debt track is lower than that of other countries going forward, and which will remain so, so that we can maintain a credit rating that will be the envy of the Western World for years to come. That means that mortgage rates for those mums and dads out there will be lower than in most other countries in the Western World.

Jobs are increasing. Labour does not like talking about that, about real jobs and the real economy, whether it is in Canterbury and the rebuilding of my fine city or in other parts of the real economy. It is not about bureaucrats; it is about real jobs. Labour seems to be focused on the absolute minutia of things that do not matter. We have moved people from the offices in the medical areas to the operating theatres, and those things are the many things that New Zealanders actually care about, as shown by the reaction of the people out there.

PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) Link to this

Last Friday was an utter fiasco. All the years of planning, the hundreds of photo opportunities, the hundreds of press releases, and the assurances from the Minister for the Rugby World Cup, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of Transport came to nothing. There were 2,000 rugby fans who were denied the opportunity to go to the opening ceremony and to the game at Eden Park. People were crushed in railway carriages for hours, people were passing out in railway carriages from a lack of air, and people on Quay Street were crushed in the crowd. That is an embarrassment. It is an embarrassment to New Zealand and it is an embarrassment for New Zealanders.

I want to talk about accountability. What we have seen in the last few days from this Government is an absence of accountability. We heard Murray McCully at the weekend deny that there was any problem. He said: “Oh, well, you have to look at this in the context of a normal Friday and Saturday night.” He was playing down the problems. He was denying that there had been any serious breakdown of systems. We have seen John Key pointing the finger at everyone—everyone—but the Government: Len Brown is to blame and Auckland Transport is to blame. He even tried to point the finger at the people who pressed the emergency stop buttons in the railway carriages, because in certain instances they had been holed up in those carriages, stationary on the tracks, for hours on end. This is a complete failure of ministerial oversight.

What happens now? We see Murray McCully, like my colleague David Shearer said, declaring martial law over the Auckland waterfront and behaving like some tinpot general. A few days before, Murray McCully said there was no problem. A few days later, he declared and used the emergency powers in the Rugby World Cup legislation to take control of the Auckland waterfront. Well, what changed? It was not a problem on Saturday. On Tuesday, suddenly it was a massive problem and Murray McCully had to use the emergency powers.

I will tell members what changed: this became a political liability for the National Government. It panicked. It hit the panic button, because it could see what a disaster Friday night was for it and inevitably the public will blame the National Government. So who is in charge here? We have a notorious micro-manager, the Minister, the Hon Murray McCully. We found out today that he even selected the colour of the jackets that the volunteers are wearing at the Rugby World Cup. What I want to know is, if the All Blacks do not play well in their next game, will Murray McCully insist on choosing the next team?

What we saw yesterday was a hatchet job on the Auckland Council and on the Auckland Mayor, Len Brown. We know that from the beginning of the week, Government and council officials were working closely together on a plan to address the inadequacies of crowd management and public transport that took place on Friday night. They were working together, they had a plan, and it was going to be unveiled. What did the Minister do? He unilaterally briefed journalists on his plan to invoke the emergency powers from the Rugby World Cup legislation. He did not even have the decency to pick up the phone and tell Len Brown what he was doing. I think that that is a disgrace. It is a political stunt. Everything we have seen from the Minister, Murray McCully, in the last 24 hours has been about trying to sheet blame home to somebody else. In this case, Murray McCully’s sacrificial lamb is the Auckland Council and Len Brown.

This is a new low in this Government’s relations with Auckland. It is not only an admission that its planning and preparation over the last few years has been a complete failure but also a demonstration and a confession that this Government cannot work constructively with Auckland. We saw it throughout the Auckland super-city reform process and we saw it with Murray McCully abusing the Auckland Council over Queens Wharf. The three Ministers who are responsible for this Government’s handling of the Rugby World Cup—the Prime Minister, John Key, the Minister of Transport, Steven Joyce, and the Minister for the Rugby World Cup, Murray McCully—are all Auckland MPs, yet their relationship with Auckland is completely dysfunctional. It ranges from handwringing to lecturing to abuse, and now they have used emergency powers to take control of the Auckland waterfront. Why? Because this Government always knows best. Steven Joyce insisted, against the advice of the mayors of Auckland and public opinion, on setting up Auckland Transport under a corporate model.