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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and National Leader Judith Collins addressed MPs in the House this afternoon after the state opening of Parliament.
The parliamentarians were officially sworn in yesterday, but today is when both leaders defined their agenda for the next term.
Collins began his speech by saying that the government will be held accountable for its “poor spending.”
He called on Ardern to address falling education levels and balance the books.
But he said Ardern had a “clear mandate” and that “this time there are no excuses.”
He said it was good to see Grant Robertson get the job he has been doing for three years, a clear comment to former Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters.
But when Collins began to speak, the two Maori Party members left.
Rawiri Waititi began addressing the speaker in Maori before Collins’s speech.
Collins said Ardern ruled New Zealand in “one of the most important moments in New Zealand history.”
He wished him well, but said National will hold the government to account.
He said the government should focus on law and order and transportation, among many other issues.
“These are the things that Labout didn’t deliver on.”
Collins said there were “very few new ideas” in the speech from the throne.
He said it was as if someone from Labor had reused the 2017 speech from the throne, added Covid-19, and removed Kiwibuild.
In fact, Collins said it was “difficult to keep a straight face” while listening to the speech.
Collins criticized the government’s record on crime and housing.
“The Prime Minister cannot point fingers in other directions to blame others … she must take responsibility.”
His comments were met with the agreement of his own MPs, but with silent mockery from the government.
He called on the government to lift children out of poverty.
Collins, as expected, directed many of his comments towards Covid-19.
He said that the next three years require good fiscal management.
Collins said that so far, the government has not outlined a plan for the economy.
He pointed to the fact that deficits increase at the same time as debt increases.
But the Government assumed the debt to pay the Covid-19 response.
He said New Zealand’s debt is higher than at any time since 1930.
“There is no money left when the next crisis hits,” he said.
This will lead to higher taxes in the future, he said.
He wondered where the money would come from for the government to fulfill its promise to reform the welfare system.
“We will hold the government accountable for its spending,” Collins said.
Collins said that increasing the debt is not an achievement and that the government has an obligation to generate good spending, not “pet ideological projects, like green schools.”
“We will hold the government to account for its expenses,” he said again.
That was a key theme of his speech.
It happened to house prices.
He said there is a “reality check” for the Government in regards to the red coup.
“They were never foreign buyers or people with Chinese-sounding names,” he said.
He said Labor had already wasted three years while house prices rose; they have focused on KiwiBuild and a capital gains tax, Collins said.
The debate became particularly lively when it came to house prices.
“It’s a shame … it’s a sad situation and it needs to be fixed now,” he told Housing.
Collins called on the government to urgently fix the RMA so that there could be a “housing construction boom.”
This, Collins said, is something National will hold the government to account.
He pointed to the government’s gasoline taxes, which he asked Ardern to eliminate.
On climate change, he attacked the government for what it said were emissions on the rise in the last three years.
Collins would “hold the government accountable” on the level of emissions, not on how many things it should ban.
National would also hold the government to account when it comes to education.
Collins said front-line police under this administration feel disrespected. He said more police officers are being shot at work.
In response, a Labor MP yelled “rapacious strike force”.
The House heated up: the president had to yell “order” while Collins yelled that the government was “soft on crime.”
He said that all the government wants to do is give “a big hug” to the criminals.
“Soft on crime,” he said again before repeating, again that National “would hold the government accountable” when it comes to law and order.
Collins said Covid-19 “could empower” New Zealand’s tech sector; He asked the Government to promote and grow this sector.
National, he said, will work with the government to grow this sector.
On child poverty, Collins said the government had failed.
Collins said everyone knows Ardern has “good intentions.”
“But good intentions are not good enough.”
Collins said Ardern had failed in child poverty.
“We will defend New Zealanders every day.”
That means standing up for small entrepreneurs, those struggling to pay the bills.
Collins said this government does not have a plan for small businesses, there is no vision.
Collins said the only way this government was helping small businesses was by turning midsize businesses into small businesses.
Collins said National will also defend workers.
“National will speak for these people, we will speak for New Zealanders in this house because they deserve better than what they have had.”
Collins finished his speech four minutes early.
Now it’s Jacinda Ardern’s turn.
He began by congratulating his new deputies.
It also recognized the new national MPs, as well as the Greens and the Maori Party.
Ardern made a joke about the leadership prospects within National’s new cohort, a reference in Chris Luxon.
“I am extraordinarily proud to be the leader of this Labor party.”
He said it was the most diverse government in history.
“We have New Zealand in this place,” he said.
But he said there is a great sense of responsibility.
“We will be a government for all New Zealanders.”
Ardern said New Zealand has had to find a “dramatic new normal.”
Ardern said that when Covid first arrived in New Zealand, there was a dramatic sense of change, after change.
He reflected on how he knew how difficult it would be for the economy “but I knew it would be necessary.”
He praised New Zealand’s response to the decisions: “The New Zealanders have taken it easy.”
He said the New Zealand collective action has been one of the most humbling experiences of his life.
For this reason, “we owe them our ongoing action.”
He said the government owes each and every one of them to keep going.
For this reason, “we owe them our ongoing action.”
He said the government owes each and every one of them to keep going.
Ardern said the government still has a wellness focus, but will focus on recovering from Covid-19.
She said that as long as Covid-19 is in the world, the government must have a health problem.
Ardern said a push towards herd immunity was not right for New Zealand because there are “health inequalities” in the country.
He said the government deliberately decided on an elimination strategy.
That means every time Covid-19 comes up, we “knock it out.”
She said “we will not coexist with Covid-19 with each other.”
But that means that “we all have a role to play.”
As a government, it means managing borders and helping people isolate themselves.
It also means having an “excellent contact tracing system.”
But for all New Zealanders, it means staying home when sick, wearing a mask on public transportation, and being nice.
He said New Zealanders cannot create an environment of guilt.
“We will only be as successful as a New Zealand crowd that is willing to stay home.”
“We cannot stigmatize, we must support.”
Ardern cited the fact that Bloomberg had backed the $ 5 million team.
She said that next year, the government will move towards vaccines.
But he said it will be complicated, there are many people who will need it.
“It won’t happen en masse, it won’t happen quickly.”
She said there would be a sequence.
Next year represents an opportunity, but it also presents a risk.
But he said a recovery has already begun.
Ardern said that on the economic side, things are better than expected, citing New Zealand’s lower-than-expected unemployment level.
Ardern said 1.7 million people received support through the wage subsidy scheme.
He said speed was very important to the government.
Ardern said New Zealand needs apprentices for rebuilding.
Therefore, “we set them free.”
He said the government has doubled the number of apprentices.
Ardern said now is the time “that we can make the changes we’ve been talking about for years.”
Ardern said she would not be lectured by the Opposition leader, who “left us with a housing crisis.”
Ardern said National’s response was to sell state homes; when he said this, National exploded, like Labor MPs.
Ardern said that escalating house prices is not a plan for economic growth.
“We will continue working,” he said.
He said that the Government will continue its work on public housing.
“We will move on.”
Ardern said it was a “national shame” that not everyone had access to clean drinking water.
“The work is not done,” Ardern said when it comes to climate change.
“Our generation cannot stand still while there is a climate crisis,” he said.
“We have to move on,” he said when it comes to child poverty.
But Ardern said she is proud of her history of child poverty.
“These are some of the toughest times for this country.”
He said he is confident that the Labor Party will be able to leave this place “better than we found it.”
Te Pāti Māori leaves the house after being denied the right to speak
Maori Party Co-Chairs Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi left the House after they were denied the right to speak as Co-Chairs in the debate of the response speech.
“We were shocked and deeply disturbed to learn that we would not have the opportunity, as did all the other party leaders, to speak in the speech debate in response in response to the prime minister’s agenda; Order to be heard,” said the co-leader of the Maori Party Rawiri Waititi.
“Our Maori people clearly expressed the view that their liberated and unapologetic voice should be heard, not suppressed. These rulings are offensive to us because they represent the oppression of the voice of the tangata whenua.
“No other party can give an unapologetic Maori response to the Prime Minister’s agenda,” Waititi said.
“This is another example of how the Maori voice is silenced and ignored, something our people know very well. We left the House to allow ourselves to speak directly to our people about our vision and kaupapa as Te Pāti Māori.” said Maori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
“Despite following House rules and seeking a suspension of the Rules, we were still denied our ability to speak in this critical first parliamentary debate.
“It is unacceptable that we are prevented from responding to the Prime Minister’s agenda for the next three years; we are the only tangata whenua party in this place and our voice must be heard on the policies that affect us,” said Ms Ngarewa-Packer . .
