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I am proud of this Government's record when it comes to the management of the economy, but more than just the numbers, I am proud that we've seen unemployment go down in Northland, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Manawatū, Whanganui, Otago, and Southland, and that is because of deliberate investment: 530 Provincial Growth Fund projects across the country, making a huge difference. Again, the words tell a story: in Gisborne and Hawke's Bay, we're seeing unemployment rates that were as high as 8 percent to 4.1 percent. That is a huge difference. Again, regional growth sits alongside our plan for trade diversification. It sits alongside our investment in research and development, and it is about driving not just any job but decent high-wage jobs for our New Zealanders, and we are delivering on that.

Of course, underpinning all of this is the environment. None of this matters if we don't have a planet we can sustain ourselves on. When we came into office, there was no plan for climate action—there was no plan. We had 4,000 native species at risk of extinction or threatened. We've had a record boost into conservation over a small space of time. We've had a list on climate change that is almost too long for me to read in one minute and 23 seconds—how about I have a quick go? Zero carbon Act; we've ended offshore oil and gas exploration; we've reformed the emissions trading scheme; we've worked with farmers on a world record - breaking new agreement on dealing with farm-based emissions; new wind farms have been built; the new energy research centre in Taranaki; of course, switching our public buildings to clean energy; and, of course, the upgrades alone in public transport are worth $5.73 billion, for rail, walking, cycling, and transport options. Next is waste, and next is fresh water. We have more to do.

Finally—and the Leader of the Opposition will hate this—1,800 new police officers, and 500 fog cannons to support our small-business owners. It is all about prevention and supporting the safety of New Zealanders, finally. We are the Government of infrastructure. We are the Government of housing, we're the Government of family and child wellbeing, of health and mental health, and the Government for the environment. We are a Government of progress. There is more to do. After nine years in blue smoke and darkness, there is plenty more to do, but this year is the chance for New Zealanders to have their say in making sure we as a Government continue to get the job done.

Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition): I move, That all the words after "That" be deleted and replaced with "this House has no confidence in the Labour-led Government because, in just two short years, it has plunged New Zealand into deficit and failed to deliver on any of its promises."

I can see the relief on Jacinda Ardern's face that that is going to be her last Prime Minister's statement. And, actually, I'm not sure where the relief is more palpable: on her face or her caucus's. But, to be fair—

Hon Kelvin Davis: Tell us how Waitangi went!

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: —after almost three years—well, we'll see in a TV poll rather soon, actually, Kelvin Davis. I'd say rather well. After almost three years of dithering and experimenting and mismanaging the economy and failing to deliver on her promises, New Zealanders can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. Actually, they can't, because Labour cancelled it! But don't worry, because National gets things done, and we'll build it.

We won't have to hear any more next year hollow statements from the Prime Minister. She's not going to have to stand up and make empty promises about building 100,000 KiwiBuild houses in 10 years and just hope for the best. And, by the way, did she mention KiwiBuild?

Hon Members: No.

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Is it in this document?

Hon Members: No.

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I find that staggering. The Prime Minister says, "Know us by our deeds." How many KiwiBuild houses have they built?

Hon Paul Goldsmith: 250.

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Two hundred, three hundred. They have cancelled more houses at Ihumātao than they have built in this term of Government, and she has the audacity to say she's running a facts-based campaign this year where they are the party of infrastructure. I don't think so.

She won't have to make ridiculous comments like they'll get light rail down Dominion Road before 2021 and just hope for the best. Where is that light rail? Michael Wood gets out from his house in Mount Roskill every single morning and he looks for it. He'll be looking a heck of a long time. It hasn't been built, it hasn't been planned, it hasn't been funded, it hasn't been consented—nothing whatsoever has happened. And she won't have to talk about ending poverty in her first winter and hoping for that, because we know her by her deeds, and we know that it's getting worse. A Salvation Army report makes that very clear today.

Jacinda Ardern's Government will go down in history as a story of lost opportunities for New Zealanders, whether it will be no infrastructure projects starting anywhere in New Zealand—and that's the story; that's right. Well, I hear you say, "Shane Jones' roundabout." Actually, even that hasn't started, as I understand it—not even that. Not a single infrastructure project in her three years in Government—not light rail, not KiwiBuild, not roads, not nothing, and almost 30,000 people on the dole and seven out of nine child poverty indicators getting worse under this Government. And she has the temerity to start and say she's starting at the beginning because things were so bad. These things are getting worse under this Government. That is what is happening in New Zealand right now, and these aren't just statistics.

Hon Kelvin Davis: Quote real numbers, Simon. Quote real numbers.

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: These are real people on the ground—in your electorate, actually, Kelvin Davis—who are getting poorer, who are finding it harder, who don't have houses, who don't have food, and who have to go for food parcels because your Government is failing to deliver on its promises.

What's even worse about the speech we've just heard in this long diatribe here of hollowness, where nothing is happening here, is not only have they achieved nothing in three years, there's nothing new. There is a sense of being bereft of anything new for New Zealand, a sense of aspiration and delivery for this country in the years to come. We've had 300 KiwiBuild houses, and Phil Twyford looks down because he knows the record and how bad it is. We were supposed to be at 6,000, at 10,000 a year, at 100,000 over the next decade and counting, and they've cancelled more than they've started. Not a single kilometre of track of light rail down Dominion Road, when it was meant to be built by 2021. They pumped up fuel prices. They raised a regional fuel tax that is really hurting those people Kelvin Davis—

Hon Paul Goldsmith: Fleecing

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Fleecing? Well, we know who the "Fleecer in Chief" is, Paul Goldsmith, and it isn't you. They've done all these things and, instead of getting new roads, instead of doing new infrastructure in this country, we have less happening than before in a very, very long time.

The amazing thing about this document is—I think it's on page 3—they start by saying, because they're obsessed with the National-led Government, how terrible it was we overinvested in roads. Six paragraphs down, what does she say? We're going to build lots of roads. She spends more time in this speech talking about roads than she does about light rail—the one thing they did promise—because, actually, New Zealanders know they can't deliver on their promises.

They have cancelled more in Kelvin Davis' electorate than they've started anywhere around New Zealand—Whangārei to Te Hana, the East-West Link, Cambridge to Piarere, Pōkeno to Mangatarata, Piarere to Tauriko, Waihī to Ōmokoroa, the Tauranga Northern Link, Katikati, Tauriko West network connections, Ōtaki to Levin, Pētone to Grenada Link Road and, Chris Bishop, the Melling Interchange: all cancelled. None of it is happening. And now Phil Twyford, I hear, in speeches, is not sure what to say. Well, he's not allowed to talk but sometimes he gets out. Jacinda gets angry at him but he gets out and talks—

SPEAKER: Order!

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Jacinda Ardern. True to their form, what we know about this Government is they are first class at announcements. I don't even think they're third rate at delivery; they are hopeless at it, and New Zealanders deserve much better than 2½ years in, coming back and saying, "Yeah, we will do some of these projects.", and the best they can offer is that one or two of them are going to have a cycleway. Well, Julie Anne Genter might be happy with that but New Zealanders aren't. They are mightily brassed off at the lack of delivery when the cost of living, another important issue, is going through the roof. Actually, if only they were building roofs—they're not, but the cost of living is going through the roof.

We hear the stories every single day around New Zealand. We hear the stories of New Zealanders who feel they are working harder. They are trying harder. They are doing more. They are spending more time at work, but the tax, the cost, the regulation—whether they are working for someone or they're their own employer—is making things harder, and taxes are going on others and not on them, as money is wasted by this Government like it's a drunken sailor.

The cost of living, I repeat, is going through the roof: whether it's $2,600 that median rent has gone up a year under this Government—$55 a week—and this Prime Minister over here talks about eighty-something dollars a week more. Well, most of it's gone in rent. Petrol is $200 more a year just in the additional tax that's been put on for a typical person. There are the cancelled tax cuts—that takes us to another thousand dollars a year that people could have had in their pockets, and that would have made a difference in terms of paying those bills, getting those school uniforms, doing the things that matter.

Nevertheless, under this Government, with that cancelled, they are some $4,000 a year worse off, and there are 28,000 more people on the dole. What is that? Half of Whanganui? Half of Whangārei? A couple of Whakatānes? There are more people on the dole. When New Zealanders are working harder and are fed up with that because of the costs they're paying, there are more people who are on the dole right now. Job growth has flat-lined, because there are no expectations under this Government to get a job. [Interruption] And they laugh, but New Zealanders aren't laughing, because they see a situation where there's been lack of delivery, where there's no infrastructure, where the economy's getting worse, and where there's a situation where people are facing more costs. There are 7,000 more children in poverty today than there were a couple of years ago, I say to Ron Mark—7,000 more children. Actually, there are tens of thousands sitting there, and the Christchurch City Mission says that things were better under us and that things have got much, much worse.

Hardship grants have doubled. Emergency housing grants have increased by 500 percent, and the social housing waiting list has more than doubled to over 13,000 families. They've been better at filling motels than they have at building houses. Hundreds of millions of dollars are going on people—and you'd think the Prime Minister would finish on a strong point, actually. She finished on 1,800 new police officers. I say again: I thought, Jacinda Ardern, that we were going to have a facts-based campaign this year. If you don't like what you promised, just change the target and pretend nothing happened. Say black is white and white is black and hold up a graph that's blank and red and supposedly means something.

They said they'd deliver. While we're on promises, they said they'd deliver 100 percent qualified early childhood teachers. Where are they? Today we hear we're waiting longer and longer and longer for children with special needs who need special attention in our schools.

One billion trees, Shane Jones. Where are they? The best he's given us is a small dying shrub. And someone probably paid a donation for it, but that's the way it goes. They have been so incompetent. They haven't delivered, and they are not managing the economy at all. In fact, we see things going backwards—a situation where we had decades of surpluses, actually, as far as they eye could see, according to Treasury. The legacy of John Key and Bill English is a situation where from the global financial crisis we went to prosperity, and now this Government has got us back in deficit.

If Grant Robertson were here—

SPEAKER: Order! The member knows he's out of order—or he should.

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Grant Robertson will tell us—about that situation, that deficit—that we will be back in surplus soon. One thing I know about Labour parties is that once they're in deficit, you never go back. They have a taste for wasteful spending. And that's the situation. And we'll see, Jacinda Ardern, at this Budget. You've been bequeathed, Jacinda Ardern, a fantastic legacy, and you have failed to deliver. You have squandered it in just three short years.

Three years ago, our economy was growing at nearly 4 percent per annum, and we're now at almost half of that—from tax and cost and regulation.

Hon Kelvin Davis: How many more of your MPs are leaving?

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: You want to talk about taxes?

Hon Kelvin Davis: How many more MPs are leaving?

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Oh, you want talk about why one of your MPs is being challenged, Mr Davis. Why is the guy over here who's only been in Parliament about five minutes going on the list because he can't hack it? I thought he was one of the tough guys, one of the good guys. This is a guy who wants to run these things when we know the situation.

We have slipped down the GDP per capita table—behind Chile, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Spain and even Greece. [Interruption] Well, was it Winston Peters who talked about a Polish shipyard? Actually, I think it was his mentor, but that's where we're going under this Government. We are slipping behind.

I say again to Ron Mark that he may be laughing but New Zealanders aren't. On this side of the House, we have a plan to fix that. That involves getting more money in people's pockets, making a stronger economy, actually building the infrastructure. Let's actually do this, Stuart Nash—and making communities safer. I see Stuart Nash over there, in a situation where right now around New Zealand—in his electorate there's open gang warfare. What was it? Fifty gang members brawling a few weeks ago, Stuart Nash—50. AK-47s—guns. How many were arrested? Four, I'm told. Under Stuart Nash we have a tag and release policy that isn't going to work.

New Zealanders deserve better than this Government. They deserve a strong economy, to build the roads, to do first-class infrastructure, to build the world-class schools. They deserve financial security so that they can look after their families in good and bad times. They deserve the ability to fill up their petrol tank and to have a better cost of living in this country. They deserve the environment that Jacinda Ardern and James Shaw talk so much about—that's seen emissions go from going down under us to going up under them. [Interruption]

Kelvin Davis keeps interjecting, and he obviously didn't get the memo they sent around before about not doing that and sitting there with their head in the—he never was the smart one in the class; let's be honest about that. But here's the thing. Some say—[Interruption]

SPEAKER: Order! I'm going to now ask both sides to settle down, and when I'm on my feet, the member will sit. That mightn't have been in the best taste, but it does set the tone for the debate, and I'm going to ask the member to continue. But some of those interjections are to stop as well. Not that member—the ones in reaction to what the member said.

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Some say that none of this is the Prime Minister's fault: the fact, actually, that Phil Twyford can't do any infrastructure; that Carmel Sepuloni had boasted about getting things under control, but we have 28,000 more people languishing on the dole; the fact that David Clark sends out the chief executive of health to front on coronavirus and he's missing in action. Somehow these aren't her problems. I say let's stop making excuses for Jacinda Ardern. Leaders lead. Actually, leaders get things done, and New Zealanders know—

Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern: Ha, ha!

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: And she laughs about that. Where has her Minister been on coronavirus? Where has Phil Twyford been? Where has the Minister of Housing—the new one, the next one—been on these issues? They have been out for the count.

The National Party has a plan. We take a very clear plan.

Hon Members: What is it?

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well, it's not a—unlike hers, it's not a complicated plan. It doesn't involve fake news and graphs that are "based on Treasury", but, actually, she's added to.

Hon Members: Ha, ha!

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: They laugh and they laugh, because right at the start of this year Jacinda Ardern went out with a transparency tool. She said she was going to be the most transparent—all of these things. Well, right now they're peddling paid targeted advertisements all over Facebook, begging New Zealanders for money for the Labour Party. And have they signed up to the transparency tool? No. Has Jacinda Ardern signed up to it for her personal page? Has the Labour Party? Has the Government? No, they haven't. That was the big song and dance, and they haven't.

You see, on this side of the House, New Zealanders know—like John Key did, like Bill English did, like I will—that we will deliver a stronger economy. We know, in uncertain times, what to do. We'll provide the tax relief that's required, and we've already started laying out that plan. We'll make sure there's less regulation for small businesses and we'll do the infrastructure that's required. That's the second part of this plan. We'll build some roads. We'll actually do this—

Kieran McAnulty: What plan?

Hon SIMON BRIDGES: —Kelvin McAnulty, or whatever your name is; I don't know what your name is. We will do this by building the roads around New Zealand, and New Zealanders know that we will actually deliver.

Stuart Nash and Andrew Little, we will make sure that New Zealanders have the safety and the security that they deserve. We understand that behind the statistics, where there are tens of thousands more victims of crime right now, where burglaries are going up, where sexual violence is going up, where robberies are going up, where gang members are up 30 percent exponentially in his own electorate—we're not going to do tag and release. We're going to resource those police. Whether it's 1,400 or whatever the number is in reality, we are going to make sure that New Zealanders are safer.

There's a contrast in this Parliament between big talk, a lack of delivery, zero substance behind that party over three years, failing to deliver for New Zealand, and on this side a party that, when it says it will do something, delivers for New Zealanders, that is going to deliver that money in their pockets, that is going to deliver the infrastructure that's required, and that's going to deliver a safer New Zealand for all families.

SPEAKER: No, I can't call the member yet. I'm waiting for the Leader of the Opposition to comply with Standing Order 124. It's an issue I dealt with last year with him. [Leader of the Opposition tables amendment]

Hon Member: What an amateur.

Hon Simon Bridges: He's such a clever guy!

SPEAKER: No, sit down. The member will stand, withdraw, and apologise.

Hon Simon Bridges: I withdraw and apologise.

SPEAKER: I want to indicate to the member that the Standing Orders are not petty. They're very definite. They're very clear. He had one chance last year and he made a mess of it, and he's done it again, and calling me petty for insisting that he comply with the Standing Orders is, as far as I'm concerned, outrageous. The Rt Hon Winston Peters.

Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition): I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I have not said that you are petty and I'd ask, if you're going to make that sort of quite serious statement in this House, you back it up, because it is not true. The second point I'd make is there may well be Standing Orders on these matters, but for the 12 years I have been in this Parliament, when things are tabled, when motions like that are put, there is customarily a period of time in which to put that before—I had just finished my speech and if I wanted to take a little time and actually let Mr Peters start speaking and hand it over to the Clerk, I think that's incredibly reasonable.

SPEAKER: Right. OK, well, the member might believe that, but he might believe a whole pile of other things. Any competent member knows—any competent member knows—

Hon Dr Nick Smith: Starting off the year biased.

SPEAKER: Nick Smith will stand, withdraw, and apologise.

Hon Dr Nick Smith: I withdraw and apologise.

SPEAKER: Any member with a knowledge of the Standing Orders—and anyone who has observed this House—knows that it is the practice to give to the whips a copy of an amendment which is given to the Clerk during the speech, because it has to be put by the Speaker at the end of the speech. The question is now that Mr Bridges' amendment be agreed to.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Deputy Prime Minister): Can I say that it's very difficult to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. All the elocution lessons; all the lessons on how to stand, pull your chin in, speak deeply; all the lessons on how to look like a statesman have all been wasted. He took 17 minutes of a 20-minute speech to say that the National Party has a plan—17 minutes.

Now, can I say to the backbenchers—I just saw a poll this morning. It's about the leaders of political parties in this country. One of those polls has the leader on the positive-negative equilibrium. I'll say it slowly for the big chap, because even he could do better than that. The woodwork teacher, I mean. The woodwork teacher could do better than that.

Hon Gerry Brownlee: Have a go at the tradies.

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh, the tradies. He wouldn't know a hard day's work physically if he saw it, and it shows—look at his soft hands. He doesn't know what work smells, tastes, and feels like, and it's demonstrable. Have a look in the mirror.

Now, back to my point. There was a poll and I saw it this morning of the leaders of political parties in this country. One party has a leader whose positive-negative rating is minus 32 percent. I don't care what the Australian Liberal Party told you, for the backbencher over there. You cannot make it from that percentage. It's all over, Rover. I have got great news, therefore, for Judith. Judith can do better than that; I've seen that poll as well. They're in serious, serious trouble.

But I want to begin by saying that the New Zealand First Party is a party where the differences in what you just heard are so obvious. Optimism versus pessimism. More progress versus back to the future. Investment versus divestment. Unity versus division. And what happened to the Christian upbringing? That was pretty nasty, wasn't it? I mean, I've got to wonder which part of the sermon did he miss, because that was not nice. It was pretty basic.

We begin the year in good heart, in good standing, positioned as the centre party of this country, ensuring that balanced common sense and good policy prevail over rampant ideology and bad ideas. Let me tell you, the barometric measure of that when it comes to politics is the latest attack on you-know-who. Has it got a familiar ring about it?

I don't want to sound like this because it might sound arrogant, but it's not my words. But when a true genius arrives in this world, you'll know him by this mark: all the dunces are a random confederacy against them. And I'm looking at them right now, at this point of time.

We're constructive, and throughout this term we've looked at restoring capacity in our central social services, addressing the massive disparity between country and town, city and the provinces, laying foundations for a more just society and creating a comparatively robust economy for all to share in, not just for the few and the very few. Since then, growth is up; immigration is down. The minimum wage is up; unemployment is down. Infrastructure investment is up; business pessimism is down. A billion trees are growing up; the National Party support is crashing down.

The Prime Minister just shared another poll that she's heard about with me. I can't tell you, of course, because it's confidential. But if I was over there, I'd know the feeling. Three more years, possibly three more years, of going nowhere fast. That's why they're deserting in their droves. That's why they're retiring from safe seats. They're saying, "I don't want to be here under this sort of leadership."

We're ambitious to do more and achieve more. After all, we've only just got started. New Zealand First stands for, in this election—the best place to outline that is to tell you what we're not going to stand for. We're a party that will not tolerate letting this country fall into a pattern of decline and drift. The previous National Government was complacent, unconcerned, and unable to address growing inequality and obvious signs of social stress.

The Prime Minister laid them out, one after the other, and there they are in massive denial, with incompetent, hopeless people like Nick Smith shouting at the top of his breath, looking like he might have a vein go in his neck. That's how angry he was. He's sort of the kind of guy born with a sense of noblesse oblige but without class. He thinks he's born to rule. Do they look like they're born to rule? Have a good, hard look. They haven't been in business themselves. The leader and deputy leader wouldn't know how to run the university tuck shop, have never ever run a business, and nor has their finance spokesman, Goldsmith. No—he's spent his whole life writing about businessmen, but he's never been a businessman himself. And you know, you cannot learn on the job. Either you've done it or you ain't, son—and you ain't.

SPEAKER: Order! "Son".

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh, sorry—sorry. Well, you know, some people would be proud of that, but never mind.

Now, one forgets how distorted National on the economy was and how rundown the social services were, and they had one plan and one plan alone: open the floodgates of immigration—and that's a fact. Between the 1990s and the 2000s, immigration was around 12,000 per annum, and then, under National after 2014, it massively exploded to 38,300. In the year after—2015—it was 58,300. In the year after that, it was 69,100, and by 2017, it was 72,300. They only had one part of the economic plan: just explode the population.

Now, everybody in Auckland knows what that meant, and everybody around the country knows what that meant: house prices going through the roof, a lack of housing, and a massive demand for schools, hospitals, and infrastructure. The stress was minus, and immigration explains the housing market distortion and crippling infrastructure deficit. Health, education, social services were run down. Evidence of neglect was everywhere, from people sleeping in cars to rotten walls in hospitals.