Copyright Able 2017 (GENERAL CHATTER, LAUGHTER) Good morning, and welcome to The Nation. I'm Lisa Owen. Thank you so much for joining us for our last show of the season ` a live brunch downtown in Auckland. Like any good party, we are gonna start with a selfie, so I've invited some friends along to help me out. Everybody say 'cheese'! First guest today is obviously` Come back, Prime Minister! Prime Minister` Selfie and run. Yeah, selfie and run. Our prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, thanks for joining us this morning. Merry Christmas. Thank you. Now, you have passed legislation that you say is gonna lift 88,000 children out of poverty. That's great, but the National Party pledged to lift 100,000 out in that same time period. Are you being ambitious enough? Yeah, well, I'm interested in that, because, of course, their plan to lift those kids out was tax cuts, which actually took 50,000 children out of poverty. What they were gonna do to get the extra 50, we really don't know. But, look, if they share our ambition on child poverty, that is fantastic, because one of the things we're really wanting to do is commit future parliaments and future parties to setting targets around this issue, properly measuring it, being transparent with the public. So, yes, the 88,000 is our starting point. We do need to roll out a wider plan. We are working on a well-being strategy for kids that goes beyond income, because we know it's much more than that when we talk about well-being for children. Because on The Nation you also told me that you wanted to match that 100,000 target. Yes. Do you think you'll be able to in the first term? I'm not sure Bill English said he was gonna do that in the first term, but do I want to lift every child out of poverty? Yes, I do. We've started in our first six weeks with 88,000. I know I've got more work to do, and that's part of our plan. The Children's Commissioner thinks that the single biggest thing that you could do, a government could do, to lift those families out of poverty is indexing the benefit to the average wage. Will you do that? That's interesting, and I have looked at issues around indexation. We're planning a review of Working for Families and the way our benefit system interacts with those payments. That should shed some light on how we can start improving and making that system more efficient. But the Children's Commissioner will also, of course, know that we have a number of families who are the working poor, who are in work and also in poverty. That's why we use Working for Families as a tool, because it benefits both beneficiaries and working people and middle-income earners benefit as well. So that's why we use that mechanism instead. You're also the minister for arts. So I'm wondering, are we placing enough value on the likes of the New Zealand Ballet and the Auckland Art Gallery versus one-off sporting events like the America's Cup? You'll always hear me argue in favour of the arts, obviously. These that aren't exclusive. Things that enhance our sense of identity, our well-being. For some, it'll be sports. For many, it will be the arts. These aren't competing interests. I have been keeping a close eye on what's going on with the gallery. That's predominantly a council issue, and I will use the opportunity to talk with Mayor Goff about that sometime. The ballet, that's less of a funding issue, more of a management issue. But when you say we should focus on the arts, I agree. Our well-being as a nation is about much more than just what we do for bread and butter. On a lighter note, you are heading to my home town for Christmas ` Gisborne. So we're gonna give you a` I didn't know you were a Gizzy girl. Yes. We're gonna give you a quick-fire quiz... Oh no! This is terrible. ...to see if you qualify for honorary Gisboganship. Well, honorary boganship, as someone from Morrinsville, that's automatic qualification, I have to say. OK, best ice creams? Where do you get them from in Gisborne? Oh, there's a, um, ice cream shop out at the beach on the way in ` that little dairy there. Yes, OK, I'll give it to you. The Okitu Dairy. That's the one. Yes, all right. Flying in from the north-east, would Santa stop at Makarori Beach for a surf or Waikanae? Flying in from the north-east. Waikanae? No. Oh, it's Makarori. Dammit. But Waikanae's better, though. Oh, I don't know. So, if you were looking for a cheeky New Year's Eve kiss, what monument or landmark would you stand underneath in Gisborne at midnight? Well, I know they used to at New Year's go down to the main street with the clock in the middle of the street. Yes! All right, there you go. You've got the numbers to make it. Thank you, Prime Minister. Have a great festive season. So I can be proud? Thank you. Yes. Merry Christmas. Let's go now and find Gerry Brownlee from the National Party. Mr Brownlee, sorry to interrupt your conversation. Hello. Can you tell me, please, what makes a good opposition? Oh, I think being very much over the top of the backs and past the spin that any government put on. Good example this week ` supposedly 88,000 young people coming out of poverty by 2021. Turns out in the regulatory impact statements the number's only going to be something like 70 and I think it's` sorry, 62, in fact. About 12,000 more than would've been under the case of our, um... So you` But also it takes a year longer to get there. So your goal ` National's 100,000 goal ` were you gonna do that in the first term? Cos the Prime Minister just questioned whether that was the next term goal for you. Bill English made it clear it was a 2020 Budget issue. So you're saying they're doing less than what you would've. It looks that way. And they've got a huge spending programme so, you know, more than half the working population who miss out on their relatively modest tax cut but nonetheless significant, particularly if you're a young person saving for a house or something like that or paying off a student loan. OK, so has capitalism failed? No, of course not. And, uh` How can you say that when 290,000 kids are living in poverty, there's record numbers of homelessness. How can you say? I think there's a couple of things that you'd point out. Firstly, some of those numbers, I think, are highly questionable. There's no argument, and, obviously, we're not gonna argue, because we were wanting to go down the social investment track, try and improve some of those things. But if you look at the way in which we live in this country compared to many others, it's not possible to say that capitalism has failed. And I think, also, if you're going to say, 'Well, it's all about redistribution of income,' well, it's a capitalist system that gives you the income to redistribute. And if you look at the failure of eastern bloc countries, it was the failure to have a dynamic economy that caused the problem. Is being in opposition`? Now, give me an honest answer. Is being in opposition as stink as you remember it? Look, it's different, because you've suddenly got a lot more time on your hands. Ministers work incredibly long hours. They work seven days a week, and even over Christmas, they're, sort of, on guard and available. So it's different. OK, quick-fire question ` choose yourself a reindeer name, Mr Brownlee. Well, uh, Prancer. Prancer?! (LAUGHS) OK. Oh, for me? Yes, for you. Oh, no, well, it'd be Dancer. OK. Very good. Let's move on and have a chat to the women from the Green Party. Hello, ladies. Nice to see you here. We're gonna play a quick Christmas game of paper, scissors, rock. You know how it works? You ready? Yeah. Count of three. Three, two, one. Oh, and again. Three, two, one. All right, you just won the co-leadership to the Green Party. I'm not in the running. Oh, not yet maybe. What do you think the most important issue will be for the new co-leader of the Green Party? I think that it'll be... Well, we came into Parliament this year with three major election priorities ` ending poverty, cleaning up our riverways and serious action on climate change. So those are the three things that we're seriously focused on this term. You're big on equality and gender equality. I'm gonna give you 10 seconds now down the barrel of the camera to New Zealand Rugby. What would you say to them about the wages that the Black Ferns earn compared to the male players? Well, I'd say that Hon Grant Robertson as Minister for Sports and Recreation has made a serious dent in starting that conversation, and I think that it's really time that we started thinking about equality in terms of pay. Thank you. Minister, did you bike to our party today? I didn't, but I did bring people straight from the airport; we carpooled. Yeah, OK. So, on a serious note, the number of cyclists killed in this country has doubled in the last year compared to the year before. What is the single biggest thing we need to do about that, do you think? We need to build infrastructure that keeps people safe when they're walking and cycling, and we need to make walking and cycling a priority in our towns and cities, especially for schoolkids. We are in the festive season, so before I go, what is your guilty pleasure at this time of the year? Your one guilty pleasure. No more Treasury reports to read. Sleep. Sleep? Yes, definitely sleep. Um... Waking up when you want. Yeah, yeah, I am really looking forward to a few sleep-ins and reading some books, some really good books. Oh, well, happy reading. OK, let's join some of our panellists from the year. Hello, panel ` Simon, Tim, Marg, Toby. Marg, some people have said the Winston Peters is a different man now than what he was during the election campaign. Do you agree and why? Oh, no, I think those people must have very short memories, cos this is true to form. And it's also the type of change you see when any politician goes from the campaign trail into the Treasury benches. So there's a lot of talk about Winston's legacy. What will Winston's legacy be? Is Winston's legacy here? Is it Jacinda Ardern, that choice? That's an interesting point, Lisa, but I think we're probably a bit spoilt for choice when it comes to, on reflection, when we look back, what his legacy will be eventually. There's a lot of things he's done. But, yeah, potentially, if you look at how he's fully committed to the success of this government, it could be that Jacinda Ardern is his legacy. She is the future. He's read the electorate, as he always does, very well. So potentially. Toby, most valuable player this year and the villain, do you think? Well, the first part is very easy, isn't it? Is it? Well, you can be cute, but it's gotta be Jacinda Ardern, right? Anything else is silly. A phoenix from the ashes with the Labour Party, defying political gravity to be Prime Minister. Villain? I think I'd go for Gareth Morgan, who has now stood down from The Opportunities Party. Why? Well, you know, you can be super brainy, super wealthy and super confident but if you treat people like morons, then you're gonna get your comeuppance. All right, Tim Watkin, what will success look like for Jacinda Ardern? Hey! That's my question. Someone once told me to ask that question. What does it look like? I mean, ultimately, it looks like nine years. And so` Wow, you're aiming... Well, that's what a New Zealand Prime Minister should always be aiming for. It's pretty standard. So to do that, the first few things that have to happen are to cut the housing shortage, to cut the number of kids in poverty and to cut into the infrastructure deficit and to get a disciplined front bench. And that needs to happen. The hard part is that some of that progress needs to be seen in the first three years. That's the hard bit. Simon, National Party ` let's talk about them. What do they look like over the next three years? What will they look like at the next election? Well, I think they'll look very different from the way they do now. There'll be, I imagine, a clean-up of the old guard. It's very hard to see` Are you including Bill English in that? Oh, I am, indeed. It's very hard to see that his heart's in it now. He seems to be like a man treading water and unhappy at just about everything. But I think also, if the government itself is relatively competent, then there will be a great sense of, 'This is the future,' and the National Party will not be able to put up a line-up that looks like the past, so they'll have to move forward, and they've got too many talented people in their mid-benches who will be pushing for that anyway. OK, we allocated a person to each of you for secret Santa. Bill English ` what would you give him as secret Santa? I would give him... an overseas holiday. (LAUGHS) Tim Watkin, secret Santa ` Jacinda Ardern, we allocated. I brought mine with me. This is a remote control for Winston. because over the next few years, she's gonna need to keep things a little bit tight, and so, yeah, keep the buttons moving. We have got to go to a break shortly. We're a bit careless this year. We lost a lot of leaders. Take a look. I absolutely believe we can win the next election, but I do not believe that if you asked me if was committed to serving out a fourth term, that I could look the public in the eye and say yes. I've just confirmed to the Labour caucus that I will step aside as the leader of the Labour Party. If I continue as co-leader, I will hinder the success of the kaupapa, and the kaupapa is to change this government and make sure the Greens are at the very heart of that new government. I guess I had to make the call as to whether I wanted to stay and fight what I think was an inevitable trend or to cut my losses and to move on after 33 years, and I chose the latter. I'll be standing down from politics pretty much forthwith. Welcome, and thank you for all your patience. Welcome back to our Nation special. Joining me now is Green Party leader James Shaw. We just played-paper-scissors rock for the co-leadership over there. Chloe won. Of course she did. Chloe won. The budget ` we have seen the government's budget this week. Money is tight. So how much has been set aside for your climate commission and what timeframe? So, we're going to launch all of that next week, where we're gonna show what the numbers are around the budget for setting it up as well as the timeframe, but it will all happen next year, and I can't wait to get into it. So have you got enough money to do that? Yes, we have. Can you tell us the figure? No. All right. The other thing we've learnt is that during coalition talks, the Greens asked for some costings for a moratorium on new drilling, new coal, new oil. It was gonna cost around $16 billion. So did your partners decide that the price is too high for saving the environment, or did you change your priorities? I have to say that I actually thought those costings were quite circumspect, so I just actually didn't believe them. But we were costing all of our policies at the time, as we were going into those coalition negotiations. Some things we won on. Some things we didn't win on. That's just the nature of the process. But given you got it costed, it was obviously a priority for you, but it didn't make the list. Yeah, it's one of those things, right? I mean, you say you wanna save the climate; it's pretty inconsistent to therefore go out and say we're gonna go and drill for new oil and gas at the same time. Did you get close to getting it? Well, it ended up on the cutting room floor, like a lot of other things, but I think you will see during the course of this parliament that this government is committed to climate change and actually we are treating that like a sunset industry. It's about how we manage that transition so that people don't lose their jobs and can still have good livelihoods as well, so that's our accountability. (LOUD CHATTER) OK, so you've had, arguably, a bit of a shaky start to life in government. God, they're noisy, aren't they? They are. You can't take them anywhere. Golriz Ghahraman's CV and also suggestions that there's low morale in your party. Are you really match-ready? Yeah, absolutely. And it's always a difficult transition for anybody. After every election, you have people who unfortunately lose their jobs because there's a new parliament; we don't have as many MPs and so on. And so it is a bit of a tough time for people, but you always come back from that, and the experience of being in government so far I think has been really good, and I'm looking forward to it getting better over the course of the next year or two. Before I move on, you're also Minister of Statistics. What's the percentage likelihood that Winston Peters is gonna go a full term in this government? I'm pretty sure that no one ever takes bets on anything when it comes to Winston, and as the minister of statistics as well as lies and damned lies, I wouldn't wanna get into that. OK. Christmas tree ` a real one or a fake one? We've got a real one. Brilliant. Thank you very much, James Shaw. OK, you guys are the noisy ones. (LAUGHTER) All right. Minister for Immigration, Iain Lees-Galloway. Net immigration ` around 72,000. Treasury, we saw, is predicting it's gonna drop down to about 15,000 by 2020, 2021. Is that the sweet spot? Is that the number you're looking for? 15,000. No. We've got no target for the numbers. What we wanna do is make sure we've got an immigration system that delivers the skills that we need in the right places where people are needed. And probably the most important thing for me is that we start tackling exploitation. We've got too many migrant workers being exploited in the workplace. Those are my two big priorities. The number doesn't really matter as long as we're getting the skills that we need. If it drops that low, as Treasury predicts, are you gonna start inviting more people in? (CHUCKLES) As I say, we need to make sure we get the right people in the right place at the right time. That's the focus. The number will be whatever number we need to achieve that. OK. Jenny Salesa, Minister for Building and Construction, that same report raised concerns about capacity constraints. We don't have enough people in the construction industry. Single biggest thing you're gonna do to turn it round? Because Treasury says there needs to be some policy to address it. One of the things that we're focused on is the fact that we need a building and construction skills strategy, so I've already been briefing my officials, so putting on my hat as Building and Construction Minister. I also have associate housing and associate education. And moving forward, we know that we need to have a 10-year plan, 20-year plan, because we need to train people, and it takes several years to train them. One of the things that we have acknowledged as a new government is we actually have a housing crisis. We are short by 71,000 houses. Here in Auckland, short by 45,000. So we know that we need skilled people ` not just in the immediate feature bringing some skilled folks from overseas, but in the long term. We know that we need to train up our own so that we are building up our own houses here in Aotearoa New Zealand. OK, Christmas question ` what's the best snack to leave out for Santa? Snack? Yeah, for Santa. He might be hungry, you know. A cookie. A cookie. Reese's peanut butter chocolate. Oh! I hear you're really good at beer pong, by the way. Oh. (LAUGHTER) Those are secrets we shouldn't disclose. OK, let's find the Chrises to the power of two. Sorry, we're just taking a selfie. Oh no, he's taking a selfie. All right, Kris Faafoi, Minister for Civil Defence. You need to complete this sentence for me. Are you ready? Yes. Go for it. Drop... ...cover and hold. Whoo! Good job, Minister of Civil Defence. (LAUGHS) How embarrassing would that have been if he'd got that wrong. Very. Very embarrassing. A serious question for you, though ` the natural disaster fund, it's going to be fully exhausted after paying out for Kaikoura and Christchurch quakes. Does this government need to replenish it with a kick-in? I think we need to have a pretty big discussion about natural hazards that go beyond those two projects. We haven't fully had that discussion yet, but I think we all need to wake up to just how big the natural hazards issue is right around the country. We've got some communities that the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment highlighted that are gonna be trouble spots in the future. So we need a buffer, and it's gonna take 10 years to rebuild that fund unless you put some dough in there. And those discussions are happening, so over time, we'll have those. I think we as a parliament need to come to an agreement that if we don't deal with these issues in a considered way and work with local government, cos they've got some consideration for their local planning as well. There are some communities that are in serious jeopardy if we don't do something about it. OK. Chris Bishop. Gidday. I'm gonna give you a chance to give a shout-out to a member of another party who you think has done good work this year. Who is it? Kris Faafoi. (LAUGHS) He's standing right here. Yeah, I know. Awkward, eh? No, no, seriously, he's done a great job, and not only in his ministerial responsibilities, but also the parliamentary cricket team that we co-captain. We lost for three years in a row, and we had our first victory just the other day. And it was a slow and steady` OK, your 10 seconds is up. But I need to ask you also who's gonna be the leader of the National Party at the 2020 election? Bill English. Sure about that? He's the current leader right now. He's doing a great job. All right. Thank you for joining me. And I think Shane Jones is waiting in the wing here. New Zealand First MP Shane Jones. Hey, you've got a plan to plant an extra 500 million trees every year. Yup. We're not expecting you to do anything just before Christmas. When is the first one gonna go in, and where is it gonna be? The extra trees. Ah, yes, Mother Nature determines that the trees will be planted in April and May and it's a toss-up whether it's the east coast, Bay of Plenty, or the land of the Ngapuhi. I think the latter will probably win. OK. But you haven't made a final decision on that? No, haven't made a final decision, but there's a lot of bids in. 'Come on, Matua Shane. Come to the Bay of Plenty, the forest capital.' But then my people up north are saying, 'You led with your chin over the indigenous nephs. 'Come up here and put your shovel where your mouth is.' OK. It has been revealed in documents released this week that during coalition talks, there were costings for connecting Northport to Auckland rail. That came in at about $3.5 billion. Your regional development fund is only $1 billion. Show me the money, Shane. Where is it coming from? (LAUGHS) Yeah. Well, the first thing we're gonna kick off the ports inquiry, which will happen very shortly. But $160 million to $170 million was the cost that was shared with us to put in the spur for Marsden Point. And the upgrade of the rail to Helensville, the big cost, is yet again in Auckland. So where's the money coming from? Well, there's money available for the stuff right up north, But I'll have you know the provincial fund does not extend to Auckland, so we'll have to find money from another place to deal with Auckland's national port. You're short of cash. No, I finished the year with a very rotund puku, so there's nothing short about me at all. OK, you've got 10 seconds now to tell me why we need to pursue a free trade deal with Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus. Sell it to us. We need to open up new options that take us away from our reliance on China, and we need to plant the seeds to open up trade deals in areas that perhaps Kiwis don't think about now, but in those areas, that's the future of where the gas reserves are of the world. Don't you care about their human rights record and some of their behaviour, like annexing Crimea? I mean, there's always a chance you'll be hammered if you're not sensitive to the broader humanitarian agenda, but we're a small trading nation, and I think that we can take Kiwis with us and find the right balance. Hey, what did you get Winston Peters for Christmas? Um, well, I didn't deliver him Whangarei, but he is coming with me to Rarotonga when I get married to my beauty queen on January the 5th, so I've given him an opportunity to come celebrate a wedding. Oh. Do you think that gift is good enough that he's gonna let you be leader when he steps down? Oh, no, no, no. That would suggest premature death for my good self if I speculate like that in such a festive time. All right. I better let you go cos in the hour that we will be on television, Shane Jones needs to have planted 57,000 trees, so we need to let him get going. Let's take a look at some of the stories people shared with us during our year with The Nation. 'Our stories have taken us to peoples past...' What thoughts go through your head when you come back? Very bad memories. '...to a robotic future.' Kia ora. That's 'hello' in the Maori language of New Zealand. 'We've travelled close to home...' The Waimea Basin is fed by bountiful aquifers, but it's not enough to quench the region's thirst. In the land of the long wait for a Louis Vuitton bag, 22-year-old Alex quietly waits for shelter. '...and ventured to some of the most dangerous places on Earth.' We travel in an armoured UN truck and can only film in certain areas. How did they die? About 42% of Timorese live in poverty. 'People's stories about the beginnings and ends of life.' Seeking an abortion in New Zealand is a drawn-out process It was stressful. It was pretty much the longest month of my life. Last year New Zealand had the highest rate of new HIV infections since records began. Women and HIV in New Zealand are totally, um,... unheard and unseen. I went totally ballistic. Yeah. Connor got shot. I wasn't discharged in the end; I escaped. And, uh, I called myself the Psychiatric Houdini. 'One subject we could not escape, though, was housing.' And stench of human excrement is the main barrier to walking in. This is not a house for anyone to live in. The next sleeping spot is not a garage or even a car. It's even more desperate. He's all right. He's still asleep. We're homeless. We don't have the money to fight this. We're refugees in our own country. Six months ago, she was living in a car. That was hard to watch my son sleep in the back of the car. 'Yes, there has been heartache.' As smoke billows around them, people sift, sort and scavenge. A place where prison officers are confronted daily with the ravages of human mental anguish. They will bite the veins out of their own skin. 'But for every problem, we've discovered people finding solutions.' The mark of a truly civilised country is how it treats those people who are vulnerable. 'In other words, heaps of that hope-y, change-y stuff that helps you get out of bed in the morning.' Why do I do it? Because I just love our people. I love all the people I work with. An angel? No, no, I am not angelic. (LAUGHS) What was the first thing you did when you walked through the door? I did a karakia, welcomed my visitors, looked around and jumped up like a lunatic, like a crazy woman going, 'Yay, it's my house!' 'A social worker who last laid eyes on a young girl 60 years ago.' After all these years. I remember you. I remember you too. Can I give you a hug? Yes. You've run out of New Zealand money? Yes. But now would be quite a good time for New Zealand to chip in some more? All donors will be welcome on-board. You want a better education? Yes. 'But it doesn't end there, because we will see you all next year.' There's a lot of good, very good people about. It's just these stinking politicians that ruin it for the good ones, you know what I mean? Did you say you couldn't possibly comment? Possibly. You could possibly comment. Maybe after we stop recording. Oh, well, that's fair enough. Well, I have found two rare and unusual creatures here at our Nation final show. Two former United leaders ` United Party leaders ` Damian Light and Peter Dunne. Peter Dunne, you're our honorary Santa ` (LAUGHS) former long-serving MP. What's your list of who's been naughty and nice this year? Look, we've just elected the Alice in Wonderland parliament, where everything's topsy-turvy, so you've got Trevor Mallard, who was always gonna head the bad boys' list ` got a lifetime achievement award from me some years ago ` is now a baby-cuddling Speaker of the House who's letting people bring their pets to work, so that's crazy. Then you look at the, sort of, serial curmudgeons, like Winston Peters, Gerry Brownlee, Nick Smith. They all seem curiously irrelevant. I mean, Winston's now our chief diplomat, so they've all gotta get ups. I think someone like David Seymour, who's got nothing else to do, is yapping to be the real Grinch of the outfit, but no one's gonna listen to him, but he's gonna try harder and harder, and so we'll just mark him down for the future. Careful ` he might be over your shoulder somewhere. I saw him before. I had an amiable conversation with him beforehand, but I didn't tell him this was coming. (LAUGHTER) Damian Light, so, you made a pragmatic move, or United Future made a pragmatic move and decided to pull the pin, realising that there's no party, really, without Peter Dunne. So what would your advice be to parties like New Zealand First, who have a personality at their head, and David Seymour, who's there on his own. Do they need to be pragmatic too? If it was more` It wasn't more about that Peter had retired; it was that we'd said we'd had our 15 years; we were really proud of all we achieved; and it was time to, sort of, close the book and move on to the next` see what's next. I think you do have to be pragmatic. You don't wanna drag things out. You don't wanna outstay your welcome. And I think it's` You weren't there long enough to outstay your welcome, wee you? Oh, no, not me personally, but, you know, United Future was in Parliament, we were in government 15 years. That's the record for longest involvement in government in New Zealand's history. So we're proud of that, but we didn't wanna stay beyond that. We have got other things we wanna do, but, yeah, there are always other options. OK. I wanna invite you to look around the room. Yeah. Whose job do you want? Whose`? And I'm sorry, Ryan Gosling's not here, so... He's not, no. ...whose job do you want? Oh, any of the MPs' jobs, yeah. I definitely wanna start as an MP, yeah. I wanna get in there. It's all part of the dream. All right. Peter Dunne, what about your future? Like, what, bijou bow ties? Male grooming products? A hair endorsement? (LAUGHS) What's on the horizon? No, no, no, no. All sorts of things, but we're just working on` working my way through those. Get through Christmas first. You're not gonna give us a little taster? No, no, I can't, because nothing's definite. All right. Watch this space for Peter Dunne's next career move. Let's go and find some of our parliamentary newbies. Here we have Lawrence Yule and Chris Penk, both from the National Party. Chris Penk, a former submariner. So is your new job any more claustrophobic and weird than, sort of, rolling around in a tin can miles under the ocean? There's a certain amount they've got in common, actually, Lisa, so it's probably prepared me quite well. What things have they got in common? Well, the claustrophobia, I suppose ` probably more mental than physical ` but, yeah, it's a very confined and particular environment is Parliament, so just learning all the ins and outs of the institution and trying not to get lost too much. Yeah, well, you raised that. So what's your biggest achievement? And you can't count finding the toilets. So far,... (LAUGHS) ...what do you think's the biggest thing you've overcome or achieved in this first little while? I think it's probably just getting on your feet and speaking for the first time. That's a real milestone, and I'm sure all of the newbies across the parliament say the same thing. You know, to get up and to take a` Maiden speech, you mean? Yeah, well, actually, not so much, that, because you prepare for that, you expect it, you know it's coming, you know how long you're speaking for, but then speeches and general debates, you might be up on your feet, talking about something you don't really know much about at short notice, and you just have to get into it and get stuck in. So getting through unscathed is an achievement? Relatively unscathed. Yes, that's right. All right. Lawrence Yule, you gave up being mayor to come to Parliament to sit on the backbench?! Yes, I did. So how's that working out for you? I'm enjoying it. I'm loving it. The first couple of weeks, I thought, 'Oh, how's this?' But now I'm loving it. But there's a lot to learn, cos it's very different to local government. Yeah, well, the thing is, though, but are you achieving anything being on the backbench? You were a mayor. You made decisions, made things happen. Yeah, but I think this is part of a long-term game. You know? I'm learning, and hopefully, in the longer term, I will achieve some things. I mean, I'm part of a great team. We're united; we're a strong Opposition; and I'm learning. And I agree with Chris. Standing up in the house has been a... You know? Because you've got people interjecting all the time. I'm used to giving speeches where people are just listening respectfully. That doesn't always happen. Bit more rough and tumble, eh? A bit more rough and tumble. OK, here's a question for you. If I dropped you in the Speaker's lounge and told you to find your way out, could you? No. Still don't know? I still don't know where the Speaker's lounge is, no. All right. Trevor Mallard` Might want to stay there. Trevor Mallard needs to get on to that. All right, let's go and find our gallery panel. Hi, guys. How you doing? WOMAN: Hi. MAN: Very good. Very good. Interesting year. Lloyd, most valued player in Parliament? Your choice. Has to be Jacinda Ardern, without a doubt. What she's done to that party in the space of, what, a year and a half ` she's gone from a list MP to an electorate MP in Mount Albert, deputy leader, then leader, and now she's the prime minister. Huge. So, absolutely, she's the most valuable player, and she saved Labour. Jenna, if there's an MVP, there's gotta be a villain, so who's the villain? Steven Joyce. He ran a campaign based on fear, lies. Labour were never going to raise income tax. Where's the $11.7B hole? He didn't actually need to do that; Bill English had an incredible campaign. But Joyce went down the old 'fear' line, so... Any other villains beside him? Oh, I'd say one of my villains is Winston Peters ` for obvious reasons. Oh. (LAUGHS) Whoops. Oh. Oh. Don't watch. Turn the telly off, Winston. (LAUGHTER) All right. Issy? I'm gonna have to say Gareth Morgan because he talked about not wanting to let personality get in the way, and he let it completely ruin his campaign. I mean, it totally derailed after the 'lipstick on a pig' thing, and he was really building momentum, and he ruined it. I'm putting you on the spot here, because he's only just, sort of, said he's backing away from the leadership, but are there any obvious contenders to take that place? Well, you would've thought Geoff Simmons, but he's gone too, so, I mean` Maybe Patrick Gower might take up the role. (LAUGHTER) OK, who's gonna be the first MP out the door, do you think? And why? I reckon it's gonna be David Carter. David Carter, former speaker. he's gonna go to his big Banks Peninsula farm over summer, he's gonna put his feet up, and he's gonna look out over that beautiful harbour and go, 'You know what? Why am I in Parliament in Opposition, 'filling in time on a debate about a Families Package? I'm out.' So I think he's gonna be the first to go. First to cut and run? Yeah. Bernard, any thoughts? Do you agree? Yeah. And Chris Finlayson and wildcard Jian Yang. Jian Yang, who has` Yes, because of the whole furore around whether he was helping train spies. That's right. And I can't imagine he's very useful to the National Party now as a conduit for donations from various communities. So he might go. His reputation's now as the man who trained Chinese spies, and so it will be difficult for him to continue and be useful in Parliament. What about Bill English? Is he still there in 2020 as leader? I think so. Besides Jacinda Ardern, he's been one of the stars of this year. He really reinvented himself, made himself a retail politician that, actually, convinced a big chunk of the public that he had a different idea, he was different from John Key and could come up with some new, fresh ideas. I mean, we're talking now about child poverty and numbers about child poverty, cos he surprised everyone with that 50,000 number in the debates. Bernard, you've got five seconds. What's the big issue gonna be in 2018? Climate change. All right. Hey, let's have a look at the rock 'n' roll year that was election year. Are you guaranteeing any houses for first-home`? Well, actually, first of all, I can tell you` Are you guaranteeing any? Answer the question. Hang on a second, you're not the interviewer. Well, I'm not going to make up numbers on the show this morning, Lisa. I dispute all those statistics. We put an extra $106 million into Canterbury to support health in Canterbury` They're your statistics, Minister. Please, they are your statistics off your own Ministry of Health website. So I don't want to jump on their buzz. I'm telling them to come and jump on our buzz, cos we're the party for the future. You're the minister, and your plan isn't working. Like I said, if we follow the trajections` I disagree. But that means you've got to come up with an alternative, doesn't it? If you say that this side has got a plan that's not working, what is your plan? I've not heard a specific detail in that. Well, first of all, James Shaw, you talk about my blood running cold, mate. You're not the Green Party leader any more. You're the Green Party's undertaker. And there's a good chance you'll be gone after the election. Those homeless numbers, how many are Labour prepared to tolerate? We're committed to a New Zealand strategy to end homelessness. That will be the goal of our government. Over what period of time are you going to do that? I would expect over two terms we could end homelessness in New Zealand. The problem with Seymour, right, is that all tax is theft. This is a neo-lib in raw form here. He's pulling up the ladder, Jack. You're blaming a government that was elected 18 years ago. And, Phil, we have been working on this for nine years. You're the minister. Time out, people. Do you have a preference for the blue team or the red team? JAMES SHAW: He has a preference for the green team. I have a` (LAUGHS) You're not supposed to tell people that, James. (CHEERING, MUSIC PLAYS) (CHEERING, MUSIC PLAYS) So let's give National a bit of credit. 46% is a strong result, so it was a good night for National. I'm sure Steven Joyce will appreciate hearing that from you. Are you OK? You're not meant to say that. (LAUGHS) So you will be at the table for these discussions? Well, I don't know. I'll probably turn up at some point. I'll make the tea at least. This is MMP. The party with the most votes on the night is not necessarily the winner. We had a choice to make, whether it was either with National or Labour, for a modified status quo or for change. In our negotiations, both National and Labour were presented with that opportunity, working together, cooperate together for New Zealand. That's why in the end we chose a coalition government of New Zealand First with the New Zealand Labour Party. Thank you very much. Any questions? Welcome back. You're with the Nation special. I'm here with the Speaker of the House, Trevor Mallard, and new MP Kiritapu Allan. Morena to you both. BOTH: Kia ora. Ah, Trevor. Now, Peter Dunne has previously given you a lifetime achievement award for services to ` I gotta get this right ` melodrama, fisticuffs and abhorrent behaviour in the house. Do you see those kind of things ` those antics ` differently now that you are the referee? Well, of course you do, and one of the advantages I have through breaking a few rules over my time is that as you go to gamekeeper from poacher, you have ideas about how you might handle members who act like I did. Yeah, OK. So what do you think the kaupapa of the Speaker should be other than keeping everybody in line? And when I ask you this, I should say Trevor is rocking a wee baby that he's pinched from someone. Yeah. Well, one of my very good colleagues has nicknamed me Dingo because of my approach to stealing babies, which is... It's true. I mean, I'm taking it in good humour. I think the role of the Speaker is one very much of being a referee but also developing the standing orders and the way that the Parliament works ` to make it work better, bring it, where possible, into the 21st century. To make it more inclusive? Well, more inclusive. We're talking about young children, but we've also got now people from a much wider variety of backgrounds. Yeah. When I started` I think just before I started, there were only four women MPs. The Minister of Women's Affairs was a man. Well, thank goodness times have changed. And I'm not quite sure that Parliament's quite kept up with that. But this one's burping really well. (LAUGHTER) Kiri Allan, your baby, which is not this baby, has been in the house. Yep. What message do you think that sends people? Well, I think it is one of transformation in that Parliament is indeed a house of representatives. The Speaker has been really gratuitous, I think, in terms of just opening up the doors. And the feedback I get from not just young mums ` young mums, young dads, parents ` they're saying the face of Parliament has changed, and people feel like, 'Well, you know, if they're doing it there, 'then maybe we should consider doing this in our own workplaces.' I think that's a great thing. You're a so-called newbie. Have you had any embarrassing moments yet? No, 'course not (!) (LAUGHS) No, I've had a few. Last night, we were in urgency, and I'm one of the junior whips, and I had to cast the vote on behalf of our party. And I might have been looking momentarily down at my phone, and I stood up, and I said, '46 votes, uh,... 'opposed.' So I had to stammer there, but we got there anyway. Good save. Good save. Thank you for joining us this morning. Let's talk to Marama Fox. Can I interrupt you there, Marama Fox? How are you? Oh, kia ora, Miss Lisa Owen. Former Maori Party MP. Kia ora. Former. Yeah, former. Does that still smart? Oh, no. Look, I've got a tag that I can get back into Parliament with, and it actually says 'former'. (CHUCKLES) It actually does. Hey, so, Lance O'Sullivan has said that he wants to be the Maori Party leader on his own. And Tukoroirangi Morgan has said maybe it's time for you to resign. Are you feeling the Christmas love? (LAUGHS) I love Christmastime, and I'll tell you what ` there might be a few parcels under the tree for the boys, but in the way of, I don't know, some brains. Cos here's the thing. I love Lance, and he could be great, but in order for him to be the sole leader of the Maori Party and have that autonomy, the membership of the Maori party have to vote him in. I don't mind. They've all talked to me. We've talked to Tuku. It's no surprise. It's all good. Taking it on the chin. OK, so, who's the Santa of Parliament? And who's the Grinch? Let me see. Who's the Santa of Parliament? I'll tell you what, Jacinda Ardern would be the Santa of Parliament if she commits to a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the institutional response of abuse for our children. She would be Santa. And if she doesn't, she'll also be the Grinch. There you go. Summed it up. Thank you. Lovely to talk to you. OK, let's have a chat to some of our panellists from the year, Morgan Godfery, Ben Thomas and Mihingarangi Forbes, morning. That's actually our baby that Trevor's got in his hands. (LAUGHTER) But he's been stealing babies for about the last month. And he's stolen a Hui baby. And that's the Hui baby. That is why we're here ` The Hui. Good to know. Hey, it's a bit awkward with Marama here, but can the Maori Party come back, Morgan? Yes, but probably not with Lance O'Sullivan at the helm if his recent comments are actually anything to go by. Because I don't think it's tenable that you can have a sole leader. I think we need that co-leadership model ` the Mana Wahine, Mana Tane model. Plus for nine years, the Maori Party's been talking about grass roots and how they make the decisions, so for one person to come forward and say that he wants the sole leadership by himself kind of doesn't work with the ethos of the party that it's from the grass roots up. Ben, Andrew Little's got a big challenge on his hands; he's gotta bring Ngapuhi to the table and get that treaty settlement sorted. What's he got to bring that Finlayson didn't ` Minister Finlayson didn't? Well, I think both of them are men with huge amounts of integrity. They can really get the trust of the people that they're negotiating with. The thing to remember is that these are negotiations. The Crown doesn't impose settlements. The Crown can't just, sort of, type in a code and open it up like a safe or something. There are 115,000 people who are involved in getting Ngapuhi to the table, and that's going to be a lot more important than just the Crown creating the environment where it can happen. OK, quick whip-around ` who is your Maori MP to watch for 2018? There's a... I think Labour will be keeping a close eye on Kelvin Davis, but I think the person to watch, Shane Jones, has a huge amount of responsibility in the new government. Kiritapu Allan cos she's here. OK. Morgan, your`? Willow-Jean Prime. All right. Thank you. And we've got a really special guest here with us today. Tom Sainsbury ` comedian, actor. You might recognise him. Hmm, maybe. Maybe not. Maybe not. And we'll find out why. Hopefully not. OK, so, you play Paula Bennett. I do. What does it take to channel Paula Bennett, and is she your spirit animal? Yeah, yes, I would say Paula's my spirit animal. (CHUCKLES) Well, surprisingly, it doesn't take very much to channel her any more. I just need to say 'Paula Bennett' and I'm there. I'm in her. You're in the zone. I'm in the zone of her. Well, unfortunately, it's a bit like the Oscars. Paula Bennett couldn't be with us today. (GROANS) But` So I'll receive the award on her behalf. ...behalf, yes. And she has recorded this message for us all instead. Hi, sweeties. It's me, Paula Bennett. Happy Yuletide and all that. I hope you're spoiling yourself rotten. with your L-Li` with your Lind` Lints` Lindts... chocolates and your various festive paninis cos is 'tis the season, isn't it, for festive paninis? Gosh, you've got your Christmas mince paninis. You've got your, um, turkey and various cranberry jus paninis. So you're spoilt rotten for choice. I hope you're enjoying The Nation. I certainly am not. Um, Lisa, I find, is quite a left-wing propagandist, and I've watched her ` I have ` and she tends to go a lot more easier on the left, people on the left than she does on people on the right. I've noticed. I've got your number, Lisa. But anyway, Lisa's dug her own grave. We will battle next year, Lisa. Just you watch. OK, anyway, guys, listen, I'm just gonna give a bit of a spruce-up to my trifle, my world famous` Oh, my Christmas tree seems to be having a bit of a freak-out. Look at that. How festive. Anyway, listen, I'm gonna go spruce up my trifle, then I'm gonna head out and just bliss out watching my kereru in my puriri trees. Ka kite. 'M-Miri Kirimete'. From Paula. Welcome back to our Nation end-of-year special with the ACT leader, David Seymour. You must be really enjoying this. A party of more than one! Oh, no, and, you know, the best thing is this is the first time, Lisa, I was told the joke (!) (LAUGHS) It was a good one, though, wasn't it, David? OK, seriously, you had a big win this week with your end-of-life bill. It's gonna go to a referendum. Is it gonna be a binding referendum, and what percentage will you need majority? Well, first of all, there's going to be two votes now. One is for the bill to go through Parliament. The other is for the bill to include a referendum. The referendum will simply say that if people say yes, this bill becomes law. So, yes, it will be binding in that sense. And it'll be 50%. 50%? OK, so, you have discussed before the difficulty of getting a house in Auckland and how expensive it is. So I'm wondering, are you gonna chuck your name in the ballot for a Kiwi Build property? No one should have to put there name in the ballot for a Kiwi Build property. Houses should be something that get built like everything else that people consume. But sadly, government regulation, government monopoly on funding infrastructure has screwed it up for the last decade and before. This government's got to radically reform our Resource Management Act, our infrastructure funding. So that's a no? If they're just gonna have various schemes with 'Kiwi' in front of them, they're not serious. Look, I suggested this during the election, and I got a mouthful of abuse, but I still think that's the right answer. You need serious reform in housing. OK, Christmas tree ` have you got a real one or a fake one? I've got a fake one, and I've had it for more than eight years, which they tell me means that it's environmentally friendly. Let's go and find the mayor of Auckland, Phil Goff, who is loitering over here. Hello, Mr Mayor. How are you? Hi, Lisa. Good. If you could get one present from the Labour government, and I need to rule out not a super soaker water pistol and not a lightsaber, what would be the one thing, and I want a solid answer here, form the Labour government? What do you want? A very modest ask. Probably about $6 billion. So that's top of your list? Top of your shopping list? For your transport and infrastructure plans. Oh, transport and housing. And to clean up our environment. Yeah, it's a big ask, and governments don't have endless supplies of money, but I'm confident we'll work really well together to get what will be good for Auckland and for New Zealand. Did you see the budget this week, Phil Goff? Yeah. It is tight. There is barely any money. Budgets are always like that, and every finance minister I've dealt with in 36 years of politics has been a tightwad, and they have to be. They can't spend money they don't have. But what I'm saying is, you know, for New Zealand to succeed, Auckland's gotta succeed, and we can't succeed if people can't afford to live there and can't get around their city. Well, on that note, Labour has introduced an Auckland weighting, in essence, for teachers at low-decile schools. They're gonna get extra money to teach at low-decile schools. They're after 1800 new police officers. Should police officers get an Auckland weighting allowance for coming to this expensive city? My advice to any government would be, yeah, you can give a weighting; that helps temporarily in a particular sector. But what we've really gotta do, and I know Minister of Housing agrees with this, we've gotta solve the underlying problem. We need to build more houses. But in the short term, would you support a weighting for police in Auckland? In the short term, we need more houses, because I can't say, 'Well, we're gonna prefer this profession or that profession over a whole lot of people, 'including low-income folk, in Auckland who can't afford to live in our city.' You've got 10 seconds ` a message to the children of Auckland here who might be concerned that Santa could be held up in congestion on the Southern Motorway. What is your message to them? Well, I'd advise him to take the Waterview tunnel. It's working quite well at the moment. All right, thank you. Let's go to Mike Wesley-Smith, who did some of our very significant stories this year. He's with a special guest. Cool, thank you very much, Lisa. Yes, Rim is an unassuming star of the homelessness awareness campaign. Rim, did you ever think that the story would have the consequences that it did? Nah, I had no idea that this was gonna happen. Nothing at all. It's... It's just taken off a lot further than I thought it ever would. It's quite surprising, actually. Yeah. Have things improved on the streets, based on your experience? Sadly, I don't think so. Things are getting a little harder for them now. Some parts where they have been, they've been shutting everything up, so pushing them all away now. Yeah, I just don't know what they're gonna do. I'm gonna still continue helping them as much as I can. Are there still kids living in cars? Are you aware of that? Not that I'm aware of. I haven't seen it, but, um, I don't know what happens all over the place, because people are getting pushed into little places where they're not seen any more. So it's hard to say. So people don't want to be visible, right? They travel to parks that are out of the way just to sleep out. Yeah, yeah, pretty much. And the threat of child services, you know, WINZ and all that getting involved, they're too scared to come out and see me. Now, just before we go, you have a new dog, Max. How's he going? Oh, he's mad, crazy. Eats everything, anything. And finally, why is he called Max? Oh, he's named after my car. A Holden Maxima? No, Nissan Maxima. Sorry, Nissan! Good thing you're not a car dealer. No, no. Well, hey, Rim, thank you so much. I think a lot of people` I speak for a lot of people when I say thank you for your advocacy, thank you for articulating, being prepared to stand up and talk about your experience, and I think that did have a huge consequence. I don't know if you reflect on that much. Oh, someone had to say something otherwise there'd still be nothing happening. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Rim. Lisa, thank you for the privilege of being able to talk to Rim. I'll move it back to you. Thanks very much, Mike. I'm here with some of our other regular panellists on The Nation. Trish Sherson, you would like in 2018 to have an oceans minister. Give us your pitch. We need to stop treating the ocean like something we just extract different things from and start treating it as a whole ecosystem, and as an island nation, Looking after the ocean, which is our biggest climate regulator, is one of the most important things we can do, so I think a Minister for the Ocean is the new way to view how a government should be treating that, and there are a lot of governments around the world who are already moving in this direction. Interesting. Susie, what do you think is the highlight or lowlight of the year for you, in terms of politics? Politics, there are a couple ` one, I would say, in terms of stories, it's got to be Todd Barclay. That was a great piece of journalism The Newsroom did. I think there are still questions there that haven't been answered, and so it's pretty wide-reaching. In terms of moment, though, I loved seeing the babies in the parliamentary chamber, and having the Speaker holding a baby in the middle of the debate has got to be a highlight. Hey, thanks for joining us today. And it's nice to hear you back on radio. Dave, winners and losers. Dave Cormack, winners and losers from this year? Well, one of the losers is probably me for wearing the same shirt as David Seymour today. That's pretty embarrassing. But the other big loser would be Gareth Morgan for spending millions of dollars and getting fewer votes than Colin Craig. And actually, one of the winners for me is Julie Anne Genter, who I think, since becoming a minister, has really just grabbed her portfolio and really performed well, particularly around the road toll stuff and the Ministry for Women. I think she's really doing well. There are some very noisy people behind us, as you predicted. They're trying to drown me out. They're trying to drown Dave out. I just want to thank you all for watching this year. I want to thank everybody who works behind the scenes, our wonderful producers, the people from make-up, all the people who shared their stories with us this year. A special thanks to our executive producer Gabriel Thomas. And this next bit comes with a health warning. We have a musical treat, I think, for you from our parliamentary band. Take it away, Kris Faafoi! (ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC PLAYS) ALL: # Feliz navidad. # Feliz navidad. # Feliz navidad. # Prospero ano y felicidad. # I wanna wish you a merry Christmas. # Feliz navidad. # I wanna wish you a merry Christmas. # I wanna wish you a merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart. # Feliz navidad. # Feliz navidad. # Feliz navidad. # Prospero ano y felicidad. # I wanna wish you a merry Christmas. # I wanna wish you a merry Christmas. # I wanna wish you a merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Captions by Madison Batten, Desney Shaw, and Imogen Staines. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017 This programme was made with the assistance of the New Zealand On Air Platinum Fund.