Christopher Luxon's first speech to Parliament as Prime Minister of New Zealand

by Christopher Luxon

Well, it is great to be back. Not just back, but back with a bigger team, more talent, fresh ideas, committed coalition partners, and a big programme to deliver, and a big mandate from voters to get New Zealand back on track.

Speaking of more talent in National, before I go further, can I say thank you to both James Meager and Katie Nimon for those outstanding and inspiring maiden speeches. James, I am moved to know that both your parents were watching here in this space today. Having met both of them, I can only imagine their pride. You are the embodiment of the belief on this side of the House that education can change lives. I want to acknowledge your mother's foresight, as you do too, because in instilling the value of education in you she gave you a gift. You stepped up and you made the most of it and you worked hard as a result. You are here today because of it, and I know you are going to make great contributions to this place. So congratulations, James. Well done.

Katie, you were also instrumental in helping National win back the Hawke's Bay, and we can all see why. Like James, you too have been strongly shaped by your family's circumstances, and, in your case, through business, service, and a love of the place that you call home. I also want to acknowledge your family on what is a proud day for them too, and for you, and for National. So congratulations, Katie, as well.

James and Katie's paths to this House have been very different, but their values, I believe, are very similar. They are National Party values that cherish independence, that cherish aspiration and effort, and that call to public service. It is for all 123 of us MPs an honour and a privilege to serve the public from this very place which is the beating heart of New Zealand's democracy. We represent different parties and we come from different backgrounds and experiences with unique life stories, but in this House each of us is heard, our voices count. Across the House, I genuinely want to congratulate every new MP on your election to Parliament and I urge you to use your time here well. Congratulations again to you, Mr Speaker. Your guidance, experience, and sense of fairness will serve all of us in this House and New Zealand very well.

Now, I have to say: New Zealand is under new management. We are here because people believe that we are the parties that can get things done; that's why you elect parties on this side of the House. Just like there are laws of nature and there are laws of physics, there are laws of politics. Because if you want lower tax, you vote for us. If you want the Government books managed well, you vote for us. If you want to create more opportunities for everyone, you vote for us. New Zealanders get it, and New Zealanders want it, and that's why they elected the parties in this coalition Government. They know that we will get things done, and that those things will be the things that matter to them. New Zealanders want National, ACT, and New Zealand First to be the strong Government that New Zealand needs. They want us to deliver, and I am telling you—we will.

So let me take a moment just to acknowledge the National team in this House, and you've already met two of our class of 2023. But from Grant McCallum in Northland to Miles Anderson down South in Waitaki, from Dana Kirkpatrick in the East Coast to Maureen Pugh on the West Coast, National MPs reclaimed from Labour so much of New Zealand in this year's election. I welcome two National MPs who are here for a second term: Northcote MP Dan Bidois, and Paulo Garcia. Didn't Paulo Garcia do well turning New Lynn blue for the first time in 60 years? It is great to have you both back. We also welcome Nancy Lu off the list after a happy by-product of Andrew Bayly smashing the Port Waikato by-election.

Now, in the North Island our new MPs are Carl Bates in Whanganui, Cameron Brewer in Upper Harbour, Mike Butterick in Wairarapa, Carlos Cheung for Mt Roskill—Mt Roskill, what a win that was as well. We've got Tim Costley in Ōtaki. We've got Greg Fleming from Maungakiekie. We've got Ryan Hamilton—aptly—in Hamilton East. We've got David MacLeod in New Plymouth, Rima Nakhle from Takanini, Suze Redmayne from Rangitīkei, Tom Rutherford from the Bay of Plenty, and Catherine Wedd from Tukituki, who you heard Katie talk to in her remarks.

In the South Island, where we already have a strong showing of MPs, we're adding Hamish Campbell in Ilam, and we're adding Vanessa Weenink in Banks Peninsula—what a great win that was, too.

And on top, there are all the returning MPs, some now with seats that they've won back. I want to say congratulations to you all. It was an excellent election for National, but the pledge of the coalition Government is that whether you voted for us or not, we will govern for you.

I do also want to take this opportunity to welcome back to Parliament the expanded ACT and also New Zealand First teams. Thank you for sharing National's commitment to doing the practical, the important things that will make this a better country for all New Zealanders, to growing the economy, to governing with common sense, and to making people's lives easier. We are the parties with different priorities and different concerns. But there is a strong alignment on our core values, like believing in the dignity of independence, and that if you work hard in the best country on planet Earth, you should be able to get ahead. I have to say I am looking forward to working together with our three teams, putting New Zealand's interests first as we deliver our shared policy programme.

Now, on this side of the House, we all came to politics to make a positive change for the country that we love, that we are proud of, and that we see so much potential in. We are going to manage the economy well. Now that we've rescued it from Labour, we'll nurse it back to health. We will ease the cost of living—in fact, we've already started. We will restore law and order. The coalition parties separately and together as a Government are absolutely committed to offenders facing real consequences for their crimes, and are committed to New Zealanders feeling safe in their homes and their businesses and in their communities. We are going to get public services working better, because when you care about people—and we care deeply about people—you don't just wring your hands and look anguished and spout rhetoric. Looking anguished doesn't take an hour off an emergency wait-list in an emergency department. You need to actually get stuck in, sort it out, and actually get things done to make the difference.

We are about attitudes on this side of the House, not platitudes. Our attitude to public money is to respect the people who actually earn it. We're going to do that by letting the people who earn it keep more of it. That part of it that they hand over in tax, we will spend on helping New Zealanders get ahead, and on making this great country even better, with better education, more support for the stretched health workforce, better and faster roads, less red tape, more renewable energy, and more initiatives to increase New Zealand's prosperity so that we can all get ahead. We're about increasing incomes and outcomes. I have to say that I've had many impressive briefings already with very good senior public servants in the past few days. When they come in with their good ideas for actually achieving what the Government wants, I say to them, "That's great, but how do we do it faster?" Because good execution matters, and that's measured by results and it is measured by outcomes.

The first result I actually want to talk about is the election result, and specifically Labour's. Because the swearing-in yesterday was my very first day in the House on the Government's benches. The view from here is still of Labour, but now there's just a lot fewer of them. I have to say what we just now heard from Chris Hipkins was not righteous indignation. It was not righteous indignation; it was ritual humiliation. Because I've got to say, Chris Hipkins started the last term with 65 MPs, and he's starting this one with 34. Think about it: Chris Hipkins started the last term with the biggest majority in MMP history in New Zealand, and is starting this one with one of the most humiliating defeats for the Labour Party. I have to say, Chris Hipkins and Grant Robertson, they started this last term with everything that they needed to actually set up a political dynasty for a decade, and they squandered it. They squandered it. No reason they shouldn't have been in power for 10 or 12 years, they didn't make it. They squandered the opportunity that they'd got.

And I recall when he lost Meka Whaitiri and he said he didn't know where she'd gone. Well, he's lost around 30 MPs—he's lost 30 MPs. But he knows where they are—he knows where those 30 MPs are: they're out looking for jobs. And I have to say, they're not bad people, but they served in a very bad Government. New Zealanders saw it, and New Zealanders paid for it, and New Zealanders kicked them out. And make no mistake, Labour earned its loss. It worked hard for it. Labour wasted time, they squandered public money, and they made this great country and its people miss out on opportunities. MPs on that side of the House put Labour ideology and dogma ahead of New Zealand's interests and New Zealand punished them for it. Let it be a reminder to all of us in this House that we are actually here to represent the people and their needs—that's what we're here to do.

So I have to say, Labour is sitting over there wondering who to blame for them going from 65 MPs—the most ever in the history of MMP in this country—to the 32 uncomfortable people over there with survivors' guilt that I see opposite me. You got two new MPs and I say congratulations, but we heard from a bitter and a twisted and a negative Chris Hipkins, the one we saw during the campaign over there. But you can see he's sitting over there asking the question, "How has he survived when nearly half of his caucus lost their jobs under his leadership?" Why is he still here when so little was achieved and so little was delivered? Why is he still here? Why is he still here after squandering and decimating an absolute majority in just three years—squandering an absolute majority in three years, and so many Kiwis said, "I'll vote for anyone but Labour", and they did.

I've been thinking about it. I've been thinking about Chris Hipkins a little bit. I just have to say, he is like—he is actually like an arsonist who, having thrown an accelerant all over the joint and lit the place up, he doesn't just slink off, actually leaving the scene, realising he's caused a huge amount of damage, he doesn't actually fess up, put his hand up, apologise to the New Zealand people and actually say he got it wrong, he just simply loiters and hangs around at the scene of the crime, actually just waiting and watching everything. Meanwhile, the good news, I've got to tell you, is the fire brigade is showing up and we're going to deal with it. That's what's going to happen. But you have to ask the question, "Why is he here?"

Then Grant Robertson, he's also got survivors' guilt, and he's sitting there saying, "Why me? Why did I survive when I was the Minister of Finance who delivered food price inflation of 28 percent?"—28 percent, faster than at any time since the 1980s—"Why did I survive when weekly rents went up $180 per week?" Why? Why is he still here? When the official cash rate hit its highest point since 2008? You tripled mortgage interest rates, you crippled family budgets, and the question Grant Robertson has got to ask is "Why am I still here?" Why? Why is he still here after spending more, borrowing more, taxing more, and delivering worse outcomes? He's got nothing to show for it.

So we're asking the same question. Why, having done a terrible job, is he still here? Ginny Andersen probably isn't asking herself why she survived because self-reflection may not actually be her thing. But she should be asking why she is still here, because crime got a lot worse on her watch and Kiwis feel a lot less safe on the street and in their own neighbourhoods. Ayesha Verrall, she should also have survivors' guilt because we know so many health outcomes went backwards under Labour: immunisation rates, wait-list times in emergency departments, first specialist appointments, surgeries—all went backwards over that time.

So let me, just in the spirit of being supportive, help Labour with where they went wrong, because we heard a diatribe from Chris Hipkins and some revisionist history going on, but let me just get you some help. While Labour was wasting billions of dollars and achieving nothing, while they were distracted building a big new health bureaucracy as health outcomes went backwards, while they were alienating the public by progressing co-governance without ever explaining it, and while they were talking gibberish in the draft science curriculum—which didn't even mention the words physics, chemistry, or biology—New Zealanders were actually struggling—actually struggling. Families were facing rising bills, they were going backwards, and Labour was busy, busy, busy on new taxes and hate speech.

I point this out merely to help Labour work out what went wrong, and also to say that on this side of the House we understand what matters to New Zealanders. The things that impact their daily lives are the things that matter the most to all of them. Those are the things that we need to be talking about in this place, those are the things that the public elected us to talk about here, those are the things that matter the most to them. And along with the billions of dollars of wasted public money, there was the Cabinet chaos, the underperformance everywhere, and New Zealanders' fear, genuine fear, that they could lose their homes.

Don't tell me it wasn't so because I spoke to those people on the election campaign, and I listened to them, and I literally held the hands of some of them—like that small-business owner who was trying so hard, but her business was going under and she hadn't told her team yet because those families depended on those incomes. She cried telling me how hard it was, and that's how it was to be a small-business owner after six years of Labour. I met people who owned dairies where terrible thigs had happened to them, and I truly hope that the children in those families recover from those experiences. I met farmers who used to spend a couple of hours a week on paperwork and they were dedicated to running their properties in the most environmentally sustainable way they could, and now they spend a day a week complying with the Government bureaucracy and the rules telling them how to do their jobs. This Government's going to show a lot more respect than the last Government did to those people.

So, I have to say, there is hope. There is a Government that appreciates that businesses provide jobs and opportunities for other New Zealanders. Business owners and managers understand that their greatest resource is their team. It is by working together that the team grows the business, and it creates better wages and more opportunities and more jobs. That's the National way of looking at it—it's the aspirational way. We say it takes a lot of courage to start a small business and to employ people, and those who do it well should be extremely proud of what they do.

It's similar with private rentals. Over here, we know that landlords are mostly New Zealanders who are trying hard to get ahead by investing their savings and providing homes for other families. Here's what Labour has never understood: many of the tenants that they see as the perpetual victims of the so-called "evil capitalist" landlords have aspirations too. They have aspirations too. Not only to own their own homes but perhaps one day maybe to become landlords themselves. So they voted for us as a Government of aspiration. We are a Government that says this will once again be a country where you can realistically go about achieving your dream. Your path might be trades training, it might be tertiary education, a business you started at the dining room table, or on a fishing boat, or just a really good idea to solve something that bugs you, but whatever the motivation, and whoever and wherever you are, we want to encourage people to have a go in this country. We will not be a Government that slams people with rules and costs that makes even the most hopeful entrepreneur lose hope, as they have been doing.

National campaigned on three key areas that concerned us before the election, and I'm telling you we're going to continue to drive improvement in Government, and I want to thank ACT and New Zealand First for their support in doing that. The first thing is we're going to rebuild the economy to make it work for all New Zealanders, because we know on this side of the House that the living standards of every single one of us depends on a strong and growing economy. A strong and growing economy provides individuals and families with the opportunity to get ahead, and it generates the value and the wealth that lets us invest in this country, in the infrastructure, and the public services that we so well deserve.

On the other hand, when the economy stagnates, as it has for the last six years, things become harder for more of us. That's what we've been left with by Labour. An economy in a mess where high inflation has wreaked havoc on people's budgets, where the price of food, housing, and groceries has risen faster than wages, meaning so many Kiwis have been going backwards, where interest rates have had to climb to eye-watering levels to try and put the lid back on inflation. But inflation has become so entrenched and embedded from six years of reckless, wasteful Government spending that the Reserve Bank is already foreshadowing rates will have to stay higher for months to come.

That is Labour's legacy, and it's felt most keenly by anyone with a large mortgage, which they had to take on after the record increase in house prices under Labour. It's a legacy felt by families and workers who are struggling to make their paycheck stretch for another two weeks. It's for those people that we promise to work. It's for those people that we will be better than our predecessors. We will stop the wasteful Government spending and get the books back in order, because we know that every dollar the Government spends had to actually be earned by someone going to work and working hard. That's why Simeon Brown has already instructed officials to stop work on the ridiculous $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme. When we've said we're going to stop doing things that are stupid and wasteful, we mean it.

There's more of that coming because people who are working out there in the rain, or people who are cleaning our offices here late at night and paying their taxes expect us to treat that money carefully, just like they would themselves—and you didn't do it. We're going to let them keep more of their own money to encourage and reward hard work and to help ease the cost of living so that life gets a little bit easier for workers and families. Let's be clear: Labour should have adjusted tax rates a long time ago. That would have actually been the fair thing to do, but they had such an insatiable appetite and an addiction to spending. They wanted more and more of the public's money, and they took it off people who deserved to be paying less tax, not more.

We're going to cut red tape, because we actually want to make life easier, especially for small businesses and especially for farmers, but also we're going to cut that red tape so that cost stops getting passed on to consumers with higher prices. In some sectors, getting things done is more expensive in New Zealand than it is anywhere else in the world, and, yes, we want to be world leading, but not for the cost of doing business. We're not a wealthy country, so we need to stop making things even more expensive by loading up unnecessary costs. That means we're going to simplify planning rules so people who want to build stuff and get things done, from a new deck to an offshore wind farm, can actually get on and get it done.

We're going to get going on infrastructure, including 13 new roads of national significance and public transport projects that actually get progressed, not just talked and talked and talked about by consultants. We're going to unleash significant investment in new renewable energy generation so we can meet our climate targets without shutting down our most important economic sectors. Given the scale of the infrastructure deficit New Zealand faces after six years of a Labour Government, we're going to be unapologetic about getting the private sector involved where that makes sense too. We know there's a lot of money sitting around with institutional investors both here in New Zealand and overseas—investors who are looking for safe, stable, long-term projects to invest in. So one of the first jobs of our new National Infrastructure Agency is going to be to set up a better matching of investors with projects to get things done faster.

Now, let me turn to law and order, because ensuring people are actually safe in their own homes, businesses, and communities is a pretty basic responsibility of any Government. But the Labour Government didn't live up to that responsibility, and over the past six years violent crime went up 33 percent; serious assaults went up—I think it doubled; gang membership went up over 70 percent. I've got to tell you, gangs wreck lives and they are responsible for enormous social and community harm. Under Labour, they were allowed to overrun entire towns, take over motorways, and actually beat people up in public daylight. That growth in gangs is troubling, especially for communities with a large gang presence, but also troubling for anyone who truly cares about our country. As I've said before, if you care, you do something about it to help. So this Government is going to focus on law and order and restoring personal responsibility as part of our commitment of making our communities safer. Of course, we'll focus on the causes of crime too, but also on law and order, because here's another stat for you: 60 percent more gang members are on home detention under Labour, and they're responsible for one-third of the breaches. Here's another one: retail crime has been impacted by an incredible 92 percent. It's cost us actually $2.6 billion extra, and we're all now paying for that crime with higher, higher prices and more inflation.

We are going to combat youth offending. We're going to make sure we get our young offender military academies in place. We're going to make sure we actually put young people's lives on a better and a much more productive path going forward. I tell you our parties here on this side of the House are all aligned in amending the Sentencing Act so that we make sure you get appropriate consequences and you actually get serious time when you actually cause pain and suffering for people across New Zealand. We're going to restore the three strikes and we're committed to training no fewer than 500 new front-line police officers in our first two years.

Now, Labour said the 2017 election was going to be a new beginning for our education system. Remember that? Remember that one? That was what they said—transformational Government, going to be fantastic, going to deliver outstanding outcomes for education. They were right, but not in a good way, because essentially it was a new beginning for our education system, and a sad one. What we've seen is a rapid slide in academic achievement and the beginning of an enormous problem with absenteeism. Around 40 percent of our kids are not attending school regularly. That is startling and shameful—absolutely shameful. Just last night we had the shocking and more sad news—not surprising—that actually in the Programme for International Student Assessment test, which is how countries are benchmarked against each other, in reading, maths, and science New Zealand has slid even further, and in all three of those subject areas, our results are the worst that they've ever been. That is Labour's legacy in education, and that is Chris Hipkins' legacy as education Minister for 5½ years. All talk, all rhetoric, lots of hiring of bureaucrats—no delivery, no outcomes. I am determined we are going to turn it around, because every pupil—every pupil—whether they're Māori, non-Māori, urban, rural—whoever they are, whatever they hope for—needs for the education system to do better by them.

Our results in health have also declined. There is just so much for us to do, and we're up for it. We are going to boost the health workforce, encourage nurses and midwives to stay, train more doctors. We're going to focus on results, because results matter; they save lives. We are delighted to be back with a big team. We are delighted to be back with a big programme and big ambitions for New Zealand at home and overseas. New Zealand has everything it needs to be successful, and now with a Government committed to making it happen. New Zealanders can be positive about the future. Change won't be easy and it won't be quick, because Labour has left us a lot to repair and to rebuild, and the books are not in good shape. But I tell you there's nothing that can't be done by a Government that actually knows what it's doing. There's nothing that can't be done when we put New Zealanders first. That's what all this is about, and what this Government's going to do. That's what we're going to do. It's what we came here to do. Our team is in place, our partners are ready, the people have given us the mandate, and we are ready to go to work. Thank you very much.

https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansD_20231206_20231206