The leaders of New Zealand’s parliamentary political parties are delivering their final speeches of the year.

The parliamentary year is expected to shortly wrap up, capping off the final sitting bloc which has primarily been under urgency as the Government pushes through a large number of pieces of legislation.

A livestream of the debate will be found above from about 4.30pm. We’ll update this article with some of the memorable quotes afterwards.

It’s expected Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will begin the contributions.

The speeches are used to reflect on the year that’s been and set expectations for what is to come. They are often full of light-hearted barbs, though Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick last year made a point of making no jokes and instead attacked the Government.

Luxon in 2024 described a fictional Air NZ safety video to needle Labour leader Chris Hipkins.

He said the flight attendants were forced to take a life jacket from Hipkins during the pre-flight safety demonstration after he “instantly started blowing into the mouthpiece for more inflation”.

Hipkins, in his speech, said comparing Luxon to the captain of the Titanic was overly generous.

“The captain of the Titanic had a ship, this Government doesn’t. The captain of the Titanic had a crew who followed orders,” Hipkins said.

According to the recommended sitting programme for 2026, Parliament is expected to resume on January 27, before taking a short break for celebrations over the Waitangi long weekend, and then returning again on February 10.