"\u003C!DOCTYPE html\u003E\u003Chtml xmlns:xlink=\u0022http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\u0022 xmlns:xsi=\u0022http://www.w3.org/2007/XMLSchema-instance\u0022 xmlns:mml=\u0022http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Chead\u003E\n    \u003CMETA http-equiv=\u0022Content-Type\u0022 content=\u0022text/html; charset=utf-16\u0022\u003E\n    \u003Cmeta name=\u0022viewport\u0022 content=\u0022width=device-width, initial-scale=1\u0022\u003E\n  \u003C/head\u003E\n  \u003Cbody style=\u0022font-family:sans-serif; font-size:100%;\u0022\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000001\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022624c1b7ce2ac4fd395e08db7d7096a0a\u0022\u003EWednesday, 15 February 2006\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000003\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00224b45e4d7b3b340949c732409218907e4\u0022\u003EWednesday, 15 February 2006\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000002\u0022\u003EMadam Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000004\u0022\u003EPrayers.\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000005\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002229e2e754003f44d4a867f2a483214fae\u0022\u003EPoints of Order\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000006\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022e3952093fad442d78e69b84feeb5be97\u0022\u003EFinance and Expenditure Committee\u2014Complaints Procedure\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022 data-id=\u002271ed6cb7cf7d4505bd34e1b438bf193d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000007\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002271ed6cb7cf7d4505bd34e1b438bf193d\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE (Leader\u2014ACT):\u003C/span\u003E I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I seek your advice. On 16 December last year I wrote to the chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee, Mr Shane Jones, to complain about his attacks on a witness, Mr Ian Fraser, who had appeared before that committee. He had, as chairman, attacked Ian Fraser while chairing the meeting, then subsequently in the media.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000008\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EToday was the first meeting of the Finance and Expenditure Committee since I wrote my letter to him. I had every expectation that the committee would consider my letter. We did not consider it. When I asked Mr Jones about this, he peremptorily closed the meeting, and when I asked him what had happened to my letter, he replied that he had ripped it up. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000009\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003EIn the ordinary course of events I would write to him again to complain about his ripping up a letter from a member of Parliament to the chair of a committee, but I am afraid that his arrogance is such that he might rip that letter up, too. I ask you, Madam Speaker, for some advice on what a member of Parliament who is sitting on a select committee should do when he or she writes a letter to a chairman, in order to put a matter before the committee, and the chairman just rips it up without showing it to the committee.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022 data-id=\u002254edc72c12c44977a597b206997132aa\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000010\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002254edc72c12c44977a597b206997132aa\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: That matter must be dealt with by the committee, as I am sure the member is aware. The Speaker, as the member will be fully aware, does not intervene until asked to do so by the committee itself. Matters must be considered again by the committee, so it all should be taken up at that point. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022 data-id=\u00222d832b9c986244ddb210e887dfee1ebf\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000011\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bc1e9f65-e08b-4939-867c-22ef093e2a4e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00222d832b9c986244ddb210e887dfee1ebf\u0022\u003ERODNEY HIDE (Leader\u2014ACT):\u003C/span\u003E I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Should I do that in writing to the chairman?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022 data-id=\u0022c6effc8958dc4a8f86ec96ffee27458b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000012\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022c6effc8958dc4a8f86ec96ffee27458b\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I am sure you do not need my guidance on that, Mr Hide. I will leave that to your own discretion.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000013\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022dcc8ebfd13d44238857742b85b781001\u0022\u003EQuestions for Oral Answer\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000014\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u002241c2a133816c4133906c72608a844b5c\u0022\u003EQuestions to Ministers\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000015\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022f9c7c99e2cbc4eeaa3b117c3460c746c\u0022\u003ENuclear-free Policy\u2014Reports\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000016\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022749a724d-1ef9-49cb-9ba2-2610403653ea\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f01fc0efb0e14704ac5709254b18e436\u0022\u003E1. DIANNE YATES (Labour)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control: Has he received any reports on possible changes to New Zealand\u2019s nuclear-free policy?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022 data-id=\u002280af8d9198fa4f7491e56c2b264c317d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000017\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002280af8d9198fa4f7491e56c2b264c317d\u0022\u003EHon PHIL GOFF (Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control):\u003C/span\u003E I have seen reports on the debate during the election campaign on whether New Zealand\u2019s nuclear-free policy should be abandoned, but the latest report that I have read is dated last Wednesday and was filed in Taup\u014D. It suggested that the election policy of holding a referendum on the entry of nuclear ships to New Zealand promoted by National would be dropped by that party, and that the party would instead adopt Labour\u2019s policy. The report said that this move was led by Mr McCully and was an admission by National that its stance in the last election was\u2014and I quote from the report\u2014\u201Cconfused and turned off potential voters\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000018\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022749a724d-1ef9-49cb-9ba2-2610403653ea\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c2a01f1ccfbd462db33d82645313d3f0\u0022\u003EDianne Yates\u003C/span\u003E: Subsequent to that report, has the Minister received any other reports on the issue; if so, what further information is disclosed by those reports?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000019\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e688d8f3f15d4d3bbb9364106bc5db7e\u0022\u003EHon PHIL GOFF\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, I have received further reports. Sadly, they disclose that Mr McCully\u2019s views on this issue were not unanimously supported by his colleagues and that his bench mate Dr Lockwood Smith, for example, has apparently threatened to resign from Parliament if the policy was changed. It would seem that splits and divisions within the National Party on this issue will prevent National ever having a coherent and credible stand on it, and that New Zealand\u2019s nuclear-free status would, therefore, still be under threat from any future National Government. [Interruption] Let Dr Smith deny it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000020\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022749a724d-1ef9-49cb-9ba2-2610403653ea\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223a291aeb1ba8486b8f0b462df9280d85\u0022\u003EDianne Yates\u003C/span\u003E: If the first report referred to by the Minister today is correct, would he not welcome the fact that this would represent near unanimity in the House in support of New Zealand remaining nuclear-free?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000021\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227dc2d81bab554c90994410b8a75adef8\u0022\u003EHon PHIL GOFF\u003C/span\u003E: With the exception of the ACT party, that is right. I very much welcome that, but regrettably there is a credibility problem. At the time when National\u2019s policy was still actually in favour of a nuclear-free New Zealand in public, Dr Brash and Dr Lockwood Smith were promising privately that the policy would be gone by lunchtime. I have to say that there have been so many reversals and flip-flops in National\u2019s policy that nothing they say on this issue now will actually have any public credibility.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e751702a0ec74b65af7cc017467e51da\u0022\u003EHon Murray McCully\u003C/span\u003E: Does the Minister share the view expressed publicly by his colleague the Minister of Foreign Affairs that New Zealand would benefit from an improved relationship with the United States; if so, why is he yet again playing cheap political gains rather than focusing on the advancement of New Zealand\u2019s interests in a bipartisan way in an improved relationship with the most powerful country in the world?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000023\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022501f896d56b6493d974a5e704d6bc291\u0022\u003EHon PHIL GOFF\u003C/span\u003E: The only thing cheap about this issue was the cheapness of the National Party, which said one thing in public and another thing privately to visiting congressmen. That was cheap, that was deceitful, and the National Party now recognises the huge damage that it has done to itself, leastwise the member does. I give him credit for that but sadly his benchmate and a number of others on those benches have a totally different view, but I wish him well in trying to persuade his colleagues to his point of view.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000024\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b8383f38-c78c-4e5d-8324-677d91e95c49\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f0d6cfb806ab452ba06b466b5808abaa\u0022\u003EKeith Locke\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I would like you to consider whether the proceedings under this question would have gone more speedily and with more clarification if we had a more relaxed dress standard in this House and Dr Brash and Mr McCully had been able to wear the T-shirts I presented to them in the House yesterday, and possibly Dr Lockwood Smith, too.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000025\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c0e93361d14c49faaa00062ed3ffc4d4\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I thank the member. Would he please be seated. The member has made his point. We will now return to questions.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000026\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220dc396c2ce0445559a228a6afb0eba39\u0022\u003EHon PHIL GOFF\u003C/span\u003E: I seek the leave of the House to table this report, which states that National is considering totally aligning its antinuclear policy with Labour, admitting that the party stance on the issue was confused and turned off potential voters.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000027\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EDocument, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000028\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b8383f38-c78c-4e5d-8324-677d91e95c49\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b85647cf548f48d89aef5940be9f361a\u0022\u003EKeith Locke\u003C/span\u003E: I seek the leave of the House to table a copy of the T-shirt I presented to Dr Brash and Mr McCully. I think I gave them an XL size but this would fit Mr Tisch\u2014it is a smaller size.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000029\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223c45956a992f4ebb8ac04fbf0ac25296\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Leave is sought to table one or many T-shirts. Is there any objection? There is objection.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000030\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00221c8857623a744e24a9aefb6ce5778569\u0022\u003EPrime Minister\u2014Accountability\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000031\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d48244fc-ceef-4ef5-9cee-851e4d439468\u0022\u003E2. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022018b549071bd4ccca5b22e11c310b411\u0022\u003EDr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition)\u003C/span\u003E to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by her statement that \u201CA functioning society which provides its citizens with liberty and dignity needs to be built on the values of political accountability,\u201D; if so, does she believe that she has been fully accountable to the New Zealand public?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022 data-id=\u00220f03eda3f508400d8ce4b81a2604b3f8\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000032\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00220f03eda3f508400d8ce4b81a2604b3f8\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister):\u003C/span\u003E Yes and yes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000033\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d48244fc-ceef-4ef5-9cee-851e4d439468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222a3ca898ab6e4cf5be68a2909918f4e6\u0022\u003EDr Don Brash\u003C/span\u003E: Is she accountable for the pledge card that carries her photo, her signature, and her commitments; if so, will she now pay back the money she took from the public purse to pay for it?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000034\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228522a888f7da42499582f742843c30c8\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I am accountable for every pledge on that card, all of which will be fulfilled, just as the last two cards have had all the pledges fulfilled.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000035\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a8a550736195429ba2843bf2b945a3ad\u0022\u003EHon Phil Goff\u003C/span\u003E: Is the Prime Minister familiar with this pamphlet headed What National Stands For, which has the parliamentary crest on the back, suggesting that it was paid for by Parliamentary Service, and which does exactly what the pledge card does\u2014say what National stands for, and indirectly, therefore, encourage people to vote National?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000036\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ef6f450ab05941d997551fe6912b1c7e\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I am indeed aware of that leaflet. I am also aware of a statement made by the Leader of the Opposition this morning in which he absolutely denied that any brochures paid for from the public purse were put out by the National Party in the election campaign. I would really like him to explain why that leaflet was in this National Party package that was freely handed out throughout the country by the National Party during the campaign\u2014that very same leaflet.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000037\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a871fe6d4cc246d7975d5f889ec0fc31\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: Does she have any reports suggesting that we model our society on the values of the National Party\u2014that is, the National Party\u2019s idea of political accountability\u2014values that allow it to rack up over $100,000 in unauthorised election advertising, values that had its leader initially denying any knowledge of the work of the Exclusive Brethren church despite his subsequently admitting knowledge of its half-million dollar campaign on behalf of the National Party; if so, what do those reports say? Sorry, Rodney!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000038\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002262424cbba8384181877bb921bb0b9209\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I am advised that when a complaint went from the Labour Party about the Exclusive Brethren\u2019s advertising not being attributed to the National Party, that party\u2019s response to the Chief Electoral Officer was that because it had not known anything about them or authorised them, they could not be attributed. That, of course, runs directly contrary to Dr Don Brash\u2019s final admission, when he was forced to admit that he knew about it, that he not only agreed with the brethren that the leaflets were a good idea but further said they were tremendous, and encouraged the church to print them. I say that is attributable expenditure, and that the Exclusive Brethren\u2019s expenditure, which is known to have been in the region of half a million to a million dollars, should have been attributable to the National Party.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000039\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229110849e11ba434fa83fe76345780846\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. It is early in the year, but we surely do not mean to go on with that braying series of antics from National Party members, which rose to a crescendo during that answer. They simply should not be allowed to get away with bellowing out like that, just because they do not like the information they are getting.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000040\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225784a588b90d49aab76b5a3edb7c5fa8\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I thank the member for his comment. I have noticed there has been a lot of bellowing in this House in the short time that it has been in session, and in future there has to be order in this House. Members have a right to be heard, whoever they are. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000041\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d48244fc-ceef-4ef5-9cee-851e4d439468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227f9a99b7c3764a9fab4f437d7f95a143\u0022\u003EDr Don Brash\u003C/span\u003E: Does the Prime Minister have the slightest evidence at all that the Exclusive Brethren paid one dime to the National Party\u2019s campaign, and has she seen any pamphlets issued by the Exclusive Brethren that suggest that voters should vote for the National Party?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000042\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002276023b4a023c4b29ac957f753016c7a6\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: Those are coming in from all over the country, but I draw the member\u2019s attention to one I have in my hand, where the leaflet\u2014part of a campaign, and agreed to by the leader of the National Party\u2014states: \u201CIt is urgent that the current Labour Government is changed.\u201D That is why it should be attributable. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000043\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d48244fc-ceef-4ef5-9cee-851e4d439468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002200642b11451444298c718aeb1d2b8e10\u0022\u003EDr Don Brash\u003C/span\u003E: Why, when the Prime Minister knew that the Auditor-General had forced the Government to reduce its Working for Families ad campaign, had undertaken a major review of spending from the leader\u2019s budget, and had taken the unusual step of asking the Prime Minister to meet with him to discuss that report, did she then embark upon spending $440,000 of taxpayers\u2019 money on Labour\u2019s election campaign, in flagrant breach of the Auditor-General\u2019s recommendations?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000044\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225dbec49010fd422cab236f7d4d72cb77\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: It is worth pointing out that the Auditor-General took the unusual step of wanting to discuss a draft report with only two parties\u2014Labour and National. Labour believed that that was inappropriate, and that the draft report should come out for all parties. If the member is as pure as driven snow, as he likes to pretend, why was Katherine Rich\u2019s spokesperson circulating letters just before the election on National\u2019s policy on tax and superannuation? I put it to you, Madam Speaker, that the reason was that the parliamentary rule has always stated that that money is to promote policies, and that is what all parties have done.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000045\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224568ee8baaa14a1f98b08033d58bb53a\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. While the Prime Minister is in the mode of pointing fingers, perhaps she might like to explain where David Benson-Pope managed to get all the addresses of State house tenants in order that they might receive Labour Party propaganda during the election campaign.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000046\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e5cbd324a1ca4146856c23ab1a2c64c4\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: That is not a point of order.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000047\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022adb08b64e6d74752adc26368e9e11f0a\u0022\u003ENational Certificate of Educational Achievement\u20142005 Examinations\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000048\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003E3. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d1ba2a9e916e48a88e5be354075ebe24\u0022\u003EMOANA MACKEY (Labour)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Education: What reports has he received concerning the 2005 NCEA exams?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022 data-id=\u00228426352d00624aa6b2cc73f3e325df7e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000049\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228426352d00624aa6b2cc73f3e325df7e\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister of Education):\u003C/span\u003E I have seen and heard many reports that show that the 2005 exams have gone very well indeed. The results for all 335 externally assessed standards were monitored daily, throughout the marking of the nearly 2 million papers. More than 144,000 secondary school students have now received their National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) results. All of those students can have confidence that the results accurately reflect their performance in their exams.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000050\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002221319262d2ce4f18878034dfc1edc37a\u0022\u003EMoana Mackey\u003C/span\u003E: What criticism has he seen of the 2005 NCEA exams?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000051\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f58bfe5dee544d59ac3451fa5711cf57\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: I have not seen much criticism of the NCEA, but I have heard criticism from one particular source. That source, of course, is Bill English. Despite the evidence, public opinion, and support from the sector, he has continued to try to lead the anti-NCEA parade. Believe me, it is a very small parade these days. I think people\u2019s opinions were summed up by the Christchurch principal Denis Pyatt of Papanui High School, who stated in the Press on 18 January: \u201CI am finding Bill English\u2019s constant attempts to undermine the NCEA tiresome in the extreme. He needs to get over it.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000052\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c86ec486773840bc986ff80e41fdfaca\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: Does the Minister intend to investigate allegations made, in these emails among others, that markers were told to go back over the Not Achieveds and see whether they could push them up to Achieveds, and other allegations that led one marker to say: \u201CProfessionally, I am appalled at the standard of work I am forced to give an Achieved grade to.\u201D; and if he is not going to investigate them, can he tell us why he will not investigate allegations from markers that turned up spontaneously because of their professional concerns?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000053\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022266fe5f18490457fac15b53f29a05180\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: I understand that Karen Sewell has investigated every complaint that has been made. In fact, during a press conference she went through every single one of them with the journalists. She was hampered a little, however, by the fact that the two emails Mr English has been touting about have no names, and despite repeated requests for those two people to ring Karen Sewell with no repercussions\u2014she would just fix the problem\u2014they have refused to do exactly that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000054\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270dd644d-8bcf-40dc-998a-887d62d24a76\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c3fa58aa805c49fc8c81104cbcfb1ca7\u0022\u003EMoana Mackey\u003C/span\u003E: What endorsements has he seen of the 2005 NCEA exams?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000055\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002256b37e6ffe8c43638d464e4c4fcfeb31\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: I have a large number of them, but let me give just four. Debbie Te Whaiti from the Post Primary Teachers Association said that the New Zealand Qualifications Authority should be congratulated. Keegan Bartlett, a student from Wellington, said: \u201CIn my opinion NCEA is a successful, flexible, and quality system of assessment.\u201D Bali Haque, the principal of Pakuranga College, said: \u201CFundamentally, it is a superior system, and philosophically it\u2019s in the right place.\u201D, and in the light of Mr English\u2019s comments the president of the New Zealand Principals Federation, Pat Newman, said that Bill English needed to \u201Cstep back and think about what he is doing.\u201D It is time to step back, Bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000056\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e5b07b215c02486cb8b2a3a9ec3e64c4\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: Does the Minister not understand that he is going down the same track as the previous two education Ministers, who lost their jobs, every time he defends the NCEA in principle but refuses to get to grips with individual issues; and does he not understand that teachers need to be told how and why scaling was reintroduced this year, and that if he cannot explain it, that will further undermine public confidence in the NCEA and himself?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000057\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e41604c04274484f9e58a3fd42ba4cec\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: I do not share losing a job with them, as the member who raises that question does. What I can say is that Karen Sewell has openly and transparently dealt with every problem, small or big, that has been raised, and I have encouraged her to do that every step of the way. This is not scaling, and if the member wants a seminar on that I am sure the New Zealand Qualifications Authority will provide him with one.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000058\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022aaac787e3b6d4224a2707b8cc70fb2db\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: Would the Minister be happy for me to invite as many teachers as want to come along to the seminar on scaling in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement, because many of them would be interested to know just how it has been applied; and can he confirm that he has now refused to investigate allegations that scaling was applied in an informal way to many exams not on his re-marking list?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000059\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ade22f698dc3433dae8cdee5de2d85b8\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: I would be delighted to meet with the teachers that the member may like to get together. I imagine it will take him a fair while to get them, and they may not want their names known, etc. But let him give it a whirl, and I will come along and meet with them. I say once again that Karen Sewell has openly and transparently dealt with every single issue. In a press conference she literally went through the issues one by one with the journalists who were there. That is what she has done, and if the member is not satisfied then that, frankly, is too bad.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000060\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002207a6a198873c494e8b7baea02a9fff41\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: Why have scholarship results been delayed until 23 February, when it is well known they were marked by the middle of December, and when a week or so ago they were accidentally put up on the website; and why are they delayed until all those who are interested in the results have already enrolled in their tertiary education courses?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000061\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bc0494244bbf484ab504c9d2dc8e179c\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: Cabinet agreed in May last year that scholarship results would come out later this year in order to provide for the checking of all results. Cabinet agreed it was more important to get the results accurate, to make sure that we are now able to move forward on a firm platform, and I have just explained why.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000062\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a94088edcfa144cc837921d288597e36\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: Does this mean that Cabinet will look at scholarship results, in order to ensure they are not controversial, before students get the results; and can he confirm that students will get the results for scholarship in 2005 after they have enrolled in their tertiary education courses for 2006\u2014and is that not just ridiculous?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000063\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002223316e8efdea4c3183402f791df3e6f8\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: No, we will not be looking at the results, as the member suggests. Cabinet agreed that they would be a little later this year. That has been known since May of last year, so everybody knows exactly that. This morning I met with the reference group overseeing scholarship, comprising three people whom I think even Mr English would regard as authorities in the area. They told me this morning that scholarship has gone outstandingly well this year. The member should argue with them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000064\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00223a943a882aa54559be1f5dc05e61acfa\u0022\u003EEconomy\u2014Productivity\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000065\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d48244fc-ceef-4ef5-9cee-851e4d439468\u0022\u003E4. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d06f12b4546446e19317f7feb11b4730\u0022\u003EDr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition)\u003C/span\u003E to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by her statement that \u201CWe need a strong economy to deliver the living standards, the services, and the quality of life which the citizens of our first world country expect,\u201D; if so, does she agree that increasing the incomes of New Zealand workers depends in the long term primarily on increasing productivity?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022 data-id=\u0022fdc3b9235dc24007af3447f7448f0d4b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000066\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022fdc3b9235dc24007af3447f7448f0d4b\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister):\u003C/span\u003E Yes. And, yes, productivity improvements are critical to lifting New Zealand\u2019s economic performance. Such improvements are not achieved by slashing workers\u2019 and environmental protections, as the member favours.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000067\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d48244fc-ceef-4ef5-9cee-851e4d439468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e8cbe26f6f9d4ac9b945b616d57361fe\u0022\u003EDr Don Brash\u003C/span\u003E: Why, given her acceptance of the crucial importance of improving productivity, does she seem totally unconcerned about the fact that productivity per hour worked in New Zealand increased by a miserable 0.8 percent per annum in the 5 years to September last, which is substantially lower than productivity growth in Australia and other developed countries?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000068\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227641124b10f94773b46be91bb2308a13\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I should think it is not uncoincidental that New Zealand has had a large surge in employment, and sharply falling unemployment. A lot of people come into employment at the lower end of the wage ladder and skills ladder. Our objective, over time, is to lift those skills levels to contribute to raising productivity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000069\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d48244fc-ceef-4ef5-9cee-851e4d439468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222d56f896f2f54ad895c5be3245d87404\u0022\u003EDr Don Brash\u003C/span\u003E: Can the Prime Minister name one single economist who believes that with present policies, productivity growth in New Zealand will enable New Zealand incomes to overtake those in Australia within one decade, two decades, or even three decades; if so, who is that economist?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000070\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002260e0339c42574ff59f0df464bd9894da\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I would advise the member to consider that under a Labour Government GDP per capita grew at a rate nearly 40 percent higher than Australia\u2019s. When that member was running monetary policy and contributing to failed Government policies, our GDP per capita under a National Government over the relevant 5-year period grew 40 percent more slowly than Australia\u2019s.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000071\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d48244fc-ceef-4ef5-9cee-851e4d439468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b58b240d75d347ff994090ea96489d03\u0022\u003EDr Don Brash\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. The Prime Minister made no attempt at all to answer that question. I asked whether she could name any economist\u2014any single economist\u2014who thought that, on present trends, New Zealand incomes would overtake those in Australia within one, two, or even three decades. A yes or no answer was required.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000072\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022825265a786f24aea90b822098d4452cb\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: No, the Minister is entitled to address the question and that is what the Minister did. She may not have answered it in the way the member wanted, but there was an addressing of the substance of the question.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000073\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002250ecee3772c14978b73815e2dfa615d9\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: Is it not a fact that there was such an economist who rejected the incremental approach of Australia post-1983, preferring of course the Douglas - Ruth Richardson approach, which has taken us to the position that we are now in, and that that economist, or so-called economist, was one Don Brash?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000074\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002208aece9a0a4e42149755a2475a49b13c\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, I believe that what the member said in his question is absolutely true. I also would not be able to name any economist who agreed with \u201CDr Doom\u201D opposite that we were heading for a prolonged recession.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000075\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a96d8e291d9347b49d87981c18fbe996\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: The Prime Minister, in answering that question, did not use the member\u2019s correct name. Would she please do so in future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000076\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228194a3b4cbcc4e2a8756c7fdc24871b5\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: She should withdraw.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000077\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002250c3b127d96e4d5993606c86ac3307ca\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: The member wishes the remark to be withdrawn. Would the Prime Minister please withdraw the term \u201CDr Doom\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000078\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c869d7c7f4fb4ad386535000b9dd86dd\u0022\u003ERt Hon Helen Clark\u003C/span\u003E: Cheerfully, Madam Speaker. I withdraw.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000079\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f8b92f47-d078-4e6a-b4c6-136913bda55d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002232e77ef4de654432bff81fdb7cd6b7fe\u0022\u003ESue Bradford\u003C/span\u003E: Has the Prime Minister seen a Treasury report dated March 2004 on the increase in income for young workers that demonstrated no negative effects on youth employment from a substantial increase in the youth minimum wage, and is she aware of any reasons why young people should earn lower wages for doing exactly the same work as other workers?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000080\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002211a924cfa31b494d86907fba0f9a9214\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I understand that the first part of the member\u2019s question, which is a factual assertion, is, indeed, true. Contrary to the advice of all those who have advised for years that if the minimum wage went up unemployment would grow, in fact, as I said in my speech yesterday, 293,000 more Kiwis are working today than were 6 years ago before steady increases in the minimum wage began under a Labour-Progressive Government. I want to tell the member that I am aware of her member\u2019s bill. Labour will be supporting that to a select committee so that the evidence for and against can come out.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000081\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022357282c91f5748a0b79bab175c77aef8\u0022\u003EHon Dr Michael Cullen\u003C/span\u003E: Has the Prime Minister received any advice from any economist, including Dr Don Brash, to explain why the Australian economy has had higher productivity growth despite a more tightly regulated labour market, 4 weeks\u2019 annual holiday for all workers, a higher tax rate for high incomes, and tighter regulations of markets such as the telecommunications market; if not, is that why the Government has ignored that continual bleat of advice from the Opposition?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000082\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228e0963e2a51848a9a9b51a7fc392cb15\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Before the right honourable Prime Minister responds, I remind members that questions are asked in silence, and that question was not.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000083\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d7d69d300ebb44bb8d87db3c0c533734\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: As the Minister of Finance suggested, the Australian experience is indeed instructive in that paying workers more highly and having more protections is certainly not running counter to having a strong economy and good growth rates.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000084\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d48244fc-ceef-4ef5-9cee-851e4d439468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002283ee7cfb0b3247ecafbf956cfdb73e0c\u0022\u003EDr Don Brash\u003C/span\u003E: Is it not true that on the basis of present trends in productivity on both sides of the Tasman, New Zealand workers can never expect to enjoy the income levels of Australian workers, and indeed can expect to continue declining relative to Australian workers?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000085\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fb3953a945e54c4dadb9b4ab5ace452a\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: If anything like the performance of the last 5 years was repeated, with New Zealand GDP per capita growing far higher\u201440 percent higher\u2014than Australia\u2019s, indeed over time we would catch up. I say that the member\u2019s tune on this issue of comparisons has not changed in close to 30 years, since he wrote to his mother in 1979 that he had a terrible fear that the economic gap would become so vast between New Zealand and Australia that the skill drain would accelerate. He said that if that were to happen, New Zealand society as we now know it might not survive. I say to Dr Brash, we are here\u2014and thriving.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000086\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d48244fc-ceef-4ef5-9cee-851e4d439468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002234e7a7677eb74cf2bfdd5b2dfaa715c5\u0022\u003EDr Don Brash\u003C/span\u003E: Why did the Prime Minister not haul her Minister of Finance into line when he condescendingly dismissed Treasury\u2019s advice on how to improve productivity in New Zealand as \u201Can ideological burp\u201D; or does she agree with his assessment?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222b571e083b094ccc91fca1bd8d0f0a77\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I absolutely agree with Dr Cullen that low-tax, low-wage, low-skill, low-value economies deregulated and privatised do not contribute to a thriving New Zealand. That is why we do not follow Dr Brash\u2019s policies.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d48244fc-ceef-4ef5-9cee-851e4d439468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b08e4d82711246429f4b7f81e1a471c5\u0022\u003EDr Don Brash\u003C/span\u003E: Does the Prime Minister think the transformation of the New Zealand economy is under way, given that ANZ National Bank believes that the New Zealand economy may well have gone backwards in the December quarter, and that the survey conducted by the Institute of Economic Research showed that business confidence was at its lowest level in 35 years; if she does believe that that is what transformation means, how does she explain it?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000089\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f576e616c10d445798f4af40396c43fd\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: Indeed, a process of economic transformation sees New Zealand forecast to come through this dip in the business cycle at the lowest growth of 1.7 percent. When Dr Brash was helping the National Party in his capacity as Governor of the Reserve Bank, we bottomed out at under zero, thanks to that combination of policies at the bottom of the business cycle. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000090\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f8b92f47-d078-4e6a-b4c6-136913bda55d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022108247ae83c543e481267a789083a314\u0022\u003ESue Bradford\u003C/span\u003E: I seek leave to table a paper from Treasury dated 2004 dealing with the impacts of raising the youth minimum wage on the labour market.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000091\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f8b92f47-d078-4e6a-b4c6-136913bda55d\u0022\u003EDocument, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000092\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u002240fed9c352bb4421bc315a62f709fd30\u0022\u003EInformation Technology\u2014Broadband Capacity\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000093\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225cee6a89-68e3-40fd-b2d8-d8adb0ba5da0\u0022\u003E5. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022987f1d0dac934b18840b1f5ec0b1bd2a\u0022\u003EGORDON COPELAND (United Future)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Communications: Does he stand by the Government\u2019s target to get New Zealand into the top half of the OECD for broadband uptake by next year when New Zealand is currently 22nd out of 30 countries for broadband; if so, why?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022 data-id=\u0022e0cb366d81174d99b361c39417f3d1b6\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000094\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022e0cb366d81174d99b361c39417f3d1b6\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Communications):\u003C/span\u003E Yes, the Government set an ambitious target to be in the top quarter of the OECD by 2010, and an interim stretch goal to meet the average of the OECD by 2007. Despite progress in some areas, that interim target appears unlikely, on present trends, to be met. As outlined in the Prime Minister\u2019s speech yesterday, New Zealand is lagging behind on many broadband indicators. The Government considers that those results are unsatisfactory. Therefore, we are addressing the policy, legislative and regulatory settings\u2014[Interruption]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000095\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222b4672c468644bc39e8ba3f65a3cfa69\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Would all members be seated. Would the Minister please be seated. The Minister\u2019s response is far too long, and we could not hear it anyway, because of the barracking. So would we please now move to the supplementary question.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000096\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225cee6a89-68e3-40fd-b2d8-d8adb0ba5da0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bf496f41613544678188a1c5fa72ef47\u0022\u003EGordon Copeland\u003C/span\u003E: When the Prime Minister said yesterday that the Government will address the policy, legislative, and regulatory settings surrounding broadband as a matter of urgency, does that mean that broadband will be within the means of ordinary New Zealanders by the end of this year?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000097\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002293c963bf2817439d85452bb2846d9fe0\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CUNLIFFE\u003C/span\u003E: The objectives of the Government\u2019s digital policy are clearly set out in the Digital Strategy, and they are for all New Zealanders to have access to broadband that is cheap, fast, and available. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000098\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227df975cd-93d2-4f55-9bc5-d2790e28e043\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d5b0d07d0f224de980c1b4fd5db83527\u0022\u003EMaryan Street\u003C/span\u003E: What is the Government already doing to improve broadband uptake in New Zealand? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000099\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226da20ba259724a96a68921869856b3ba\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CUNLIFFE\u003C/span\u003E: First, the Digital Strategy launched last year represents a $400 million commitment to boosting demand in the sector. It includes the Broadband Challenge, the Community Partnership Fund, the Advanced Network for research, and the Government Shared Network. Second, we are upgrading the speed and decisiveness of the regulatory process through the Telecommunications Amendment Bill. Third, we have an urgent regulatory stocktake under way, and we will be announcing further action by the middle of this year.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000100\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225cee6a89-68e3-40fd-b2d8-d8adb0ba5da0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226987867113c1480a95bd455fbb784ed2\u0022\u003EGordon Copeland\u003C/span\u003E: Is the Minister aware that 85 percent of small businesses in Australia report efficiency gains through broadband use, whereas almost every small business in New Zealand is without broadband, and if he is aware of that, why did the Government not take action on that matter years ago?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000101\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022be314cdef5dc44be8e4447ce2ef95b61\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CUNLIFFE\u003C/span\u003E: It is obvious that the Government has taken action over the last 5 years, and that stands in complete contrast to the actions of the Opposition when in Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229901570a550c495e93eb98bbc3f9a254\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: I seek leave to table two documents. One is dated 6 May 1998 and is a report to the Treasurer on these issues, and the second is a speech from 4 August 1998 supporting the deregulation of this industry, all of which the National Party promptly forgot. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000103\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003EDocuments, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000104\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022271f61fa798547eaaabf15ee94d3c0fb\u0022\u003ETaito Phillip Field\u2014Conflicts of Interest Report\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000105\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E6. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a804b1103bbe4c61b5a4dfb9be96bd05\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader\u2014National)\u003C/span\u003E to the Prime Minister: When does she expect to receive the final report from Dr Noel Ingram into allegations of conflicts of interest involving Taito Phillip Field? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000106\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ca5d1e8d1b42454795f9859ceae6fd17\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Who interjected?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000107\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221d034575cbed4cfd9c9017923962d1ae\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: I apologise. I was responding unwittingly to a question from over here.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000108\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ad3f494c2b4f4a32b1642c4ab74e259f\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: So two of you were having a conversation while a member was trying to ask a question. That is the last warning to you all. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022 data-id=\u00227bd71f6047404bee8045801ae4a69f65\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000109\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00227bd71f6047404bee8045801ae4a69f65\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister):\u003C/span\u003E Mr Ingram has not yet identified a date for the final report, but I am advised that he is making progress.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000110\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002278453a61929947659be230bbd7c27ce2\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: Why did the Prime Minister decide that the inquiry could \u201Ctake as long as it needs\u201D after the 4 October 2005 deadline was missed, and why has she not set further deadlines?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000111\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227e82adc12f8e4b4dba3a026afece7316\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I do think the inquiry should take as long as it needs. I am rather surprised at National Party members complaining about the time it has taken, because originally they complained that Mr Ingram had not been given long enough. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000112\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ab8bd5b85f934863915dc872eff368b4\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: Is the Prime Minister aware of any reasons that might be causing Dr Ingram to delay his report back regarding this issue; if so, has she done anything to try to alleviate those reasons? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000113\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c8ae5c5f044c4e20ba6f5d8fc1b50988\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: No. I am aware, however, that when we hired Mr Ingram he had a lot of other work on his hands. That has also had to be progressed while he has been doing this investigation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000114\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ccca0e290c064153a1158a5bd23ac3b3\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: Is the Prime Minister aware that Mr Field is continuing to make immigration representations while he is being investigated; if so, what checks are in place to ensure that all of those cases are above board?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000115\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228ff55f5e-9237-45e2-8e15-24228a10320e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002228c43d15134a452ab4a7ce70575e713c\u0022\u003ERt Hon HELEN CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: I do not think anyone would expect Mr Field to stop acting as an electorate member of Parliament during the inquiry, but I am sure he will act in the light of knowledge that there is an investigation going on, in terms of which cases are forwarded to the Minister. The Minister will be considering them carefully in that light, as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000116\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022f3c73360a6794dda9f52972f547dd099\u0022\u003ECrown Law Office\u2014Resourcing\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000117\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E7. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022173d73db364843728c25b220950136a1\u0022\u003EHONE HARAWIRA (M\u0101ori Party\u2014Te Tai Tokerau)\u003C/span\u003E to the Attorney-General: Is he satisfied with the resourcing provided to the Crown Law Office to enable it to respond in a timely and professional manner?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022 data-id=\u0022300bad68f08341378e88f8f878961ef6\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000118\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022300bad68f08341378e88f8f878961ef6\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER (Attorney-General):\u003C/span\u003E Generally, yes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000119\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e8c0967ff2614dfda5e47900fa45b317\u0022\u003EHone Harawira\u003C/span\u003E: He aha t\u014Dna whakautu ki a Pita Tashkoff o T\u0101maki-makau-rau, kua whanga nei m\u014D te 8 marama mai i te w\u0101 i tae ake t\u014Dna amuamu m\u014D te Ture Takutai Moana ki te Tari Ture o te Karauna, \u0101, kua k\u014Drero an\u014D ia, ko te tikanga o te whakautu o te K\u0101wanatanga he mahi whakat\u014D, kia roa, kia kore e tutuki wawe tana take?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000120\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E[An interpretation in English was given to the House.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000121\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E[What is his response to Peter Tashkoff of Auckland, who has waited for 8 months since his complaint about the Foreshore and Seabed Act was lodged with Crown Law, and who has stated that the ongoing delays in the Government\u2019s response to his complaint are intended to deliberately stall the process?]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000122\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222b7f5d3dc59142549a1c5d1236ed56bd\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER\u003C/span\u003E: The Crown Law Office charges Government departments fees for any legal advice or services the office gives to departments. For example, in the case of foreshore and seabed negotiations, Vote Justice actually administers the cost of those negotiations. Having said that, I am not aware of any Crown Law resourcing constraint causing any delay in any of those negotiations. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000123\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002241146229-4d11-415b-a4ac-f4e2b923e95d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002291ed7b983244404193c77860265235c5\u0022\u003EChristopher Finlayson\u003C/span\u003E: If the resourcing of the Crown Law Office is generally adequate, how does the Attorney-General explain the serious decrease in client satisfaction with that office, which is recorded at page 28 of the report of the Crown Law Office dated 30 June 2005?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000124\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002230d6067423fb4694b932b4d321a296bb\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER\u003C/span\u003E: I do not understand there to be any serious complaint with the quality of the service that the Crown Law Office is providing departments. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000125\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c2dfe169-d946-4f87-8d43-0bcdb7d8bebc\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022de25dff9fcfa4ac289c208f60a711877\u0022\u003ETariana Turia\u003C/span\u003E: What will Crown Law\u2019s response be to the complaint that I lodged on 14 April 2005\u2014some 10 months ago\u2014which referred to the United Nations\u2019 findings that the Foreshore and Seabed Act contained discriminatory aspects against M\u0101ori in particular in its extinguishment of the possibility of establishing M\u0101ori customary title over the foreshore and seabed; and when will I receive a response, or will I be told yet again that the response is delayed because of competing work priorities?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000126\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b8b5126023bc482a8d7e823af45c5a46\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER\u003C/span\u003E: I can assure the member that lack of resources is not behind any delay that the member may have suffered\u2014if indeed such delay has been suffered.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000127\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fc2b4eb9590944adad92a2e7350e364a\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: With how many parties is the Government currently involved in negotiations over seabed and foreshore issues?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000128\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e27cb88211824cfcb66b7e79340e2e0c\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I do not see how that is related to the question of the resourcing of the Crown Law Office.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000129\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022902e1e2c00b44665a4f6bf28e0060f4e\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: It was raised in a supplementary question. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000130\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e1c99ddce7714035950181fe2a91ebd6\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER\u003C/span\u003E: The negotiations that are currently afoot with\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000131\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223616337626f44d0da1d4ddd572e54488\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I am sorry. To assist the Minister, I point out that the Attorney-General is responsible for foreshore and seabed negotiations, so the question is relevant. It was also raised in the context of the questions. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000132\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228ac8703baff242df9fd62ec142cfcb98\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER\u003C/span\u003E: Current negotiations involve three iwi: Ng\u0101ti Porou, Te Wh\u0101nau-a-Apanui, and Ng\u0101ti Porou ki Hauraki. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000133\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c2dfe169-d946-4f87-8d43-0bcdb7d8bebc\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227f0dc8c9239243d091a11f77f0bee18a\u0022\u003ETariana Turia\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I take offence at the comment the Minister made when he said \u201Cif such a delay indeed happened\u201D. Is he questioning my integrity in relation to the first question, when I said that I had written a letter in April last year?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000134\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a75123c260a1421cb93cee3109ed79f6\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Ministers, in their responses, do not have to accept the assertions of members, of whatever nature. The Minister responded in addressing the question. If the member has taken offence at that, the member can raise a point of order and ask for that comment to be withdrawn. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000135\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002228d8cfc02ada4b37a587d64c69f3f5fe\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I can clear the matter up. I did not intend to question her choice of dates, or cause offence. I was not accepting the proposition that there was delay, though.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000136\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022914b74c2337a40d4af9f64282caca91d\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you for that clarification.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000137\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ee790efb72df4898a2d9fd1cf2225893\u0022\u003EHone Harawira\u003C/span\u003E: E ai ki t\u014Dna m\u014Dhio, he aha te whakautu o te Tari Ture o te Karauna ki te take i tae ake i te 17 o Hakihea i te tau 2004, i k\u012B nei m\u014D te Ture Takutai Moana he pire t\u0113r\u0101 ,\u201Ci takahi i t\u014Dna mana tangata, he mea whakahahani, he mea e noho taupatupatu nei ki ng\u0101 k\u014Drero o ng\u0101 Ture Whakamana i te Tangata i Aotearoa\u201D, kei te whakaae ia me waiho te take nei m\u014D te 14 marama tuhi reta ai? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000138\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E[An interpretation in English was given to the House.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000139\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E[What will Crown Law\u2019s response be to the complaint first lodged on 17 December 2004, in which the complainant contends that the foreshore and seabed legislation \u201Cviolates his human rights, that it is racist, and that it should be declared as inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights\u201D; and does he think it is OK to take 14 months to write a letter?]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000140\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002222b04986f2ce4eef8830ba0fa4429abc\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER\u003C/span\u003E: I certainly do not accept the proposition advanced that this legislation breached the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000141\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00223b3e318908334f869ec9cbf6dcece753\u0022\u003ETe W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa\u2014Audit Reports\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000142\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E8. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022efbe9e9d193b49a98bda0698f03b3982\u0022\u003EHon BILL ENGLISH (National\u2014Clutha-Southland)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister for Tertiary Education: Did Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa receive unqualified audit reports in each of the years 1999 through to 2003, and did the Government believe those reports were a reliable measure of Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa financial systems? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022 data-id=\u0022affaafb9d04c441e8916b2518564ad03\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000143\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022affaafb9d04c441e8916b2518564ad03\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister for Tertiary Education):\u003C/span\u003E Yes; and, at the time, to the extent that the lack of qualification indicated there were no problems affecting the financial statements in a material manner, yes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000144\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e36335c6215a4748bdfe82156fc51c01\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: How did the Minister and officials manage to overlook a fundamental conflict of interest that went on for 2 years between the role of Deloitte\u2019s as the auditor that signed off the accounts with an unqualified opinion, and Deloitte\u2019s role at the same time as the Government adviser on fixing the w\u0101nanga\u2019s financial processes?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000145\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c033dbca66ee4ee382540207433936cc\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: It was not overlooked. There are Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand ethical standards covering such situations. Under those standards, two people from the same firm can perform different work for the same organisation if they follow certain rules set down by the institute. In the situation at the w\u0101nanga there was considerable separation: the auditors were working out of Hamilton, and the management consulting side worked out of Christchurch\u2014a different section of the firm.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000146\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226ec4f3d6f46b4ee1a48b39d1dbf709a7\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: If it was all fine, why did the Government, when it finally realised this conflict of interest, tell Deloitte\u2019s it had to pick one or the other, and Deloitte\u2019s decided to drop its $100,000 consultancy and stay on as the auditors; and how can he get up in the House and describe it as if it were all OK, when the Government itself forced Deloitte\u2019s to address the conflict?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000147\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022873ee15e42ae4910adb3459bef9da390\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: The Government took advice from the Auditor-General. There was a perception issue, and therefore the w\u0101nanga\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000148\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022938c5d8d9d2c4ccfa91403e4c0cd9de9\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: He was the auditor.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000149\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226337ad1e3ba84c9baa80ce163d194526\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: No, the w\u0101nanga development adviser resigned, not the auditor.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000150\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b104a0d34538412e83ad5b27ade5d637\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: Can the Minister tell the House whether accountability for this real and perceived conflict of interest could be sheeted home to, among others, Mr Shane Jones, who sat on the audit and finance committee of the w\u0101nanga, and who worked with Deloitte\u2019s both as the auditor and as the consultant to the Government; and if Mr Jones was involved, why is he still the chair of the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission, particularly when the Prime Minister said last year that he would give up that position?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000151\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e42632d8899a4b96974fd51a31785663\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: I have no responsibility for the fisheries commission. On the former matter, I repeat that there are rules governing separation. It is common in large accountancy firms for more than one aspect of business to be dealt with within the same firm. That is common both here and, of course, internationally. On the matter that the member raises, I do not think the issues he raised are at all appropriate, because Mr Jones acts as one of those trying to fix up the problems of the w\u0101nanga around the audit, and if the member had cared to check his facts somewhat better, he would have found that Mr Jones withdrew from that position when he was dissatisfied with the progress being made.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000152\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022abc16896de5c438087f4a017299da7b0\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: In the Minister\u2019s opinion as an experienced Minister, is it satisfactory, given Mr Jones\u2019 involvement in a number of aspects of the w\u0101nanga\u2019s finances that the Auditor-General found to be unsatisfactory, that the Government continues to endorse Mr Jones\u2019 position as chair of the fisheries commission, and why does it do so, when the Prime Minister told this House last year that Mr Jones would be standing down?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000153\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c28cab45d7ac4589aa18608b9587634c\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: The Minister does not have any responsibility for the fisheries commission. Would the member like to ask another supplementary question.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000154\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227651a5e07c6e4fe68a98379627863f57\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I asked the Minister, in the light of his experience of having responsibility for Mr Jones\u2019 being involved in the w\u0101nanga\u2019s finances, to therefore give an opinion on his capacity to carry out another job.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000155\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e801dd6619334bcea5477ccc5da400c8\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I thank the member, and it would be very interesting to hear Ministers\u2019 and members\u2019 opinions on everything, but it does have to be connected to the matters they are responsible for. So perhaps the member would like to ask another supplementary question that connects it more directly to the Minister\u2019s responsibilities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000156\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bb158206-360b-4757-8d72-f7d0994e1fb3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c7348c91111143e0a6f01157385d0169\u0022\u003EHon Bill English\u003C/span\u003E: Does the Minister believe that it is appropriate for a member of Parliament to continue double-dipping into the public purse when his performance as a member of the w\u0101nanga audit and finance committee was inadequate?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000157\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c317554dc0724e73bcb3cb3fabaf023e\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: I reject the last assertion. Mr Jones is one of those who was trying to put to rights the mess being created by the National Party\u2019s friend Rongo W\u0113tere at the w\u0101nanga\u2014a man who was endorsing the National Party and supporting it, as the National Party was supporting him, before the election. Mr Jones was dissatisfied by the way in which the National Party\u2019s Tory mates were behaving in managing the w\u0101nanga.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000158\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022113d821d779a42fa89ed46c51cddd210\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: When considering matters to do with the w\u0101nanga, will the Minister take the advice of the Hon Bill English given on Radio Waatea, which was very supportive of the w\u0101nanga, and the advice of Dr Don Brash when he was inside the w\u0101nanga, which was highly supportive of it, or will he take the advice given on National Radio by Mr Bill English, which was opposed to the w\u0101nanga, and the advice from Dr Don Brash given outside the w\u0101nanga, when he attacked it?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000159\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a27f3024b78a4d0a87f4800287696dca\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: I am getting far too old to keep up with the flip-flops within the National Party to worry too much about its members\u2019 positions.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000160\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022ec1616f385bf4121857b335ee73dfe82\u0022\u003ETaxation\u2014New Zealand Residents\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000161\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E9. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f756ab66ddd34bc692f4e50209aba00f\u0022\u003ESHANE JONES (Labour)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Finance: What is the basic principle that applies to the taxation of income earned by New Zealand residents?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022 data-id=\u002242153e3a11614d3193ea4ecb7efa5679\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000162\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002242153e3a11614d3193ea4ecb7efa5679\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E New Zealand\u2019s system of income taxation is based on the principle that New Zealand residents are taxed on their worldwide income.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000163\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cfaf648350fc48dda3195a6aae9bc2b1\u0022\u003EShane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: Has he received any reports suggesting that this principle be altered?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000164\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223c5906d99a7942759c35302fcf42c943\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: I receive many reports, obviously, from people who do not want to be taxed at all, but I have seen two particular reports. The first, dated 8 February 2006, suggested: \u201C\u2026 there is no rationale for taxing Kiwi investments offshore at all.\u201D The second, dated 9 February 2006, read: \u201CHis suggestion that I want to abandon the current regime that taxes dividends on foreign-held shares is nonsense.\u201D Both reports are from John Key, which shows that changing the leader will merely mean that flip-flops will be prettier in the future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000165\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022881c2e9f66974f67938b16ce1a6453d9\u0022\u003EJohn Key\u003C/span\u003E: Does the Minister believe that whatever changes are made to the \u201Cgrey list\u201D countries going forward should include Australia, or does he believe that Australia warrants a special status going forward in terms of overseas taxation?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000166\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002253f5b8ddc4dc413f899fc3f56c2c3df4\u0022\u003EHon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN\u003C/span\u003E: I am sure that any changes going forward will include Australia. I think it is likely that a special case will be made in respect of Australia as part of the single economic market project.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000167\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00222362a6ab0fe84db48590da0811f40617\u0022\u003ETelevision New Zealand\u2014Finance and Expenditure Committee Evidence\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000168\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E10. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a91ec10ad9ef420f9888e18a1227fda6\u0022\u003EJOHN KEY (National\u2014Helensville)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Broadcasting: Is he concerned by the decision of the board of Television New Zealand to strip former chief executive Ian Fraser of his remaining duties because of comments he made to the Finance and Expenditure Committee; if not, why not?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022 data-id=\u0022c8602cdcc1c349468e1f0d244268291c\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022c8602cdcc1c349468e1f0d244268291c\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister of Broadcasting):\u003C/span\u003E I understand that the Finance and Expenditure Committee has met today to discuss correspondence from both the Television New Zealand chair and Mr Fraser. I also understand that the committee is expecting to raise the issue with the Speaker as there is no clear answer on the events that took place. I am further advised that Television New Zealand has withdrawn its allegation of serious misconduct towards Mr Fraser.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000170\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022502f2c179154409dabcdbbf3ed85e3b7\u0022\u003EJohn Key\u003C/span\u003E: What information did he receive as Minister from the board in advance of the proposal to punish Mr Fraser for the comments that he made in front of the Finance and Expenditure Committee?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000171\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228b2925cd04ca4f8091deafc25b1e00d5\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: None. The chairperson simply advised me that it had been done.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000172\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222a849ed4-a817-45a7-8b86-dbc9dd210193\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224eb1e9f9a18447e099ef2f6003f145ae\u0022\u003EJill Pettis\u003C/span\u003E: Can the Minister advise the House of any proposed changes to the board of Television New Zealand?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000173\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223e25c1c1adc64d14bdc9b3d7db41ac09\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: In December I had the pleasure of announcing the appointment of Sir John Anderson, who has now joined the Television New Zealand board as the chair designate. It is intended that Sir John will become the chair of Television New Zealand in April when the current chair, Craig Boyce, finishes his term.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000174\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c6d20b6c9276441582e65279617120fc\u0022\u003EJohn Key\u003C/span\u003E: Why was the Minister not informed of the board\u2019s intention when this is in direct contravention of the \u201Cno surprises\u201D policy, where Crown company boards are to inform Ministers in advance of anything contentious; what action will he be taking against the board on this account?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000175\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d4073e1ba1604bab80899f99a1ed969c\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: This was seen by the board as strictly an employment matter; therefore it took legal advice and advised me at the time that it sent the letter.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000176\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002271a29403541b4f7b88df7aca24c3ae85\u0022\u003EJohn Key\u003C/span\u003E: Does he believe that the actions taken by Television New Zealand in relation to Mr Fraser were appropriate; if he does not, does he still have confidence in the board of Television New Zealand?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000177\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220c52babf652642448cae626723d1b64d\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: I have confidence in the board as a hard-working and conscientious group of people. The matters of employment are in their hands; they are not in mine.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000178\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bfb3a42c13584e8f84cc7b180f4e4597\u0022\u003EJohn Key\u003C/span\u003E: Does the Minister think it reflects badly on the governance of Television New Zealand that the Finance and Expenditure Committee this morning voted unanimously to send this matter to the Speaker for consideration as a breach of privilege; if not, why not?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000179\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f71687c4f0744a239cc5f1768ee255c2\u0022\u003EHon Dr Michael Cullen\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Has that been announced publicly by the chair of the select committee or in fact is that still a matter not in the public arena?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000180\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223220167bf98940dbb924f9f840e0967b\u0022\u003EJohn Key\u003C/span\u003E: It has.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000181\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227f8c14fb-b919-46ef-866b-8db68cfa4cf0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ea9c08ce301a4b5aaa9370e247f9850b\u0022\u003EHon Dr Michael Cullen\u003C/span\u003E: If it has then there is no difficulty.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000182\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022883fc5f22f454c1d885619582a846d28\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Has there been a public announcement of the decision by the chair of the select committee?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000183\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227b6e6d6c5cb84f698805d1337933a82a\u0022\u003EJohn Key\u003C/span\u003E: I take it that, when Shane Jones is surrounded by cameras coming out of the committee and the select committee announces that we have put out an announcement, that would be the case.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000184\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b6fd443089bd4f6786fdaaf05e66ebdc\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I ask the chairperson to confirm whether it is a matter of public record.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000185\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b73a30fa70254832a9ac56a7cc289d96\u0022\u003EShane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: A formal press statement will be released after this session.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000186\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002263df82dc4470408d99dc40b9414ea78f\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: So it has not been released yet?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000187\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002263e9c3894e9c480f93de8f4df8429274\u0022\u003EShane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: Not a formal press statement, no.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000188\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e7925f6c843240f382f4e8122600dacc\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: But the decision of the committee has been released into the public arena.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000189\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c203ba36a868436384c61d6254712cae\u0022\u003EShane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: The decision of the committee has been reached. Both Mr Key and I have been interviewed about it by the media.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000190\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228ebbee8bfd444c50967e90d5f918349d\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. The simple question is whether the chairman has confirmed to any media outlet that this course of action is under way.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000191\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022894557113a3d46819aa1e49ef77cce67\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I take it from what the chair said that that was, presumably, the subject of the press conference that Mr Key and Mr Jones gave. Is that correct? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000192\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002254b5f22c29554fa6ad5acc998263c59d\u0022\u003EShane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: It is correct.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000193\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e308eb204f02405d9e93b0c8b5723f36\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: It is correct. Then we will proceed.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000194\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220083bcaa-f44d-4b70-97de-d091a209b88c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d68a5eab06db45e28a10739263b81713\u0022\u003EJohn Key\u003C/span\u003E: I made it very clear to the chairman that he would be interviewed coming out of the select committee in relation to this matter.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000195\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022605133aa-6c88-4150-82dd-7d9fcf1824b4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227bd11b5d3fd24f19ab9b44735d21e3cb\u0022\u003EHon STEVE MAHAREY\u003C/span\u003E: I understand that the matter has been referred to the Speaker\u2019s office, because the Clerk\u2019s advice was that there were a number of grey areas that would benefit from that advice being received by the committee. That is what I understand is going on.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000196\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228c4566e804c14903b8a34e1a2281d847\u0022\u003EJeanette Fitzsimons\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. That raises an issue that I also ran across when chairing a select committee in the past, in that a committee can make a resolution that a press statement will be issued. It does not necessarily get issued even that day. Cameras are sometimes waiting outside, knowing that the matter is on the committee\u2019s agenda. I wonder what guidance there is for chairs about whether they must remain mum until the press release has formally gone out, which is a matter that the clerk of the committee usually deals with. Sometimes members are not aware when the press release has been issued and when it has still to be issued. I think there is a risk that members may be caught in a breach of privilege, and some clarity would be helpful.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000197\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002256d0156997de464d9f1f2d43bbd653e7\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: As I understand it, when the chair is authorised by the committee to make a statement and that statement is made on leaving the committee, formally or informally it is made. But I accept the point the member raises. It would be a useful one to discuss at a meeting of the chairs of select committees so there is clarity about how to proceed in those circumstances.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000198\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00225b0fd6a8b6df4910a59ed9aa62a95b0c\u0022\u003EFisheries, Minister\u2014Bottom Trawling\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000199\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003E11. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002292f69f79a14e4026876d59379d5782f8\u0022\u003EJEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader\u2014Green)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Fisheries: What advice or reports has he received or asked for on the ecological values of the areas proposed by the fishing industry to be closed to bottom trawling in New Zealand\u2019s exclusive economic zone, and who provided that advice?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00228415e962-886d-47b9-9356-3fdce746891f\u0022 data-id=\u00226849016903884668af311daefc182d10\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000200\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228415e962-886d-47b9-9356-3fdce746891f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00226849016903884668af311daefc182d10\u0022\u003EHon JIM ANDERTON (Minister of Fisheries):\u003C/span\u003E The fishing industry, mainly the Fisheries Council with expert advice, developed a proposal for extension of the areas to be closed to bottom trawling\u2014that is, in our exclusive economic zone\u2014based on achieving coverage of closures broadly representative of the classes identified in the marine classification report prepared by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and released in 2005. After being approached by the industry, I sought advice from the Ministry of Fisheries on the proposal, and it provided advice in consultation with scientists from the Department of Conservation. As a result of that advice, I asked the industry to consider adjustment of its proposal, to improve the representativeness of the closures. The industry subsequently submitted a revised, enhanced proposal, which I now strongly support.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000201\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d64adbd915744948a765afe30368e2c4\u0022\u003EJeanette Fitzsimons\u003C/span\u003E: Is the Minister satisfied that the areas proposed are genuinely the areas of greatest ecological importance, rather than simply areas in which the industry has no commercial interest?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000202\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228415e962-886d-47b9-9356-3fdce746891f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dff0f8192463479bae93a5356c33fe03\u0022\u003EHon JIM ANDERTON\u003C/span\u003E: I am satisfied that the areas are genuinely representative, and that is confirmed by the scientific advice that I have received. I am advised also that the areas proposed for closure are virtually untouched, with only a small amount of fishing having occurred previously. We would rather preserve representative and undamaged environments than those already modified by bottom trawling. It is untrue for anyone to suggest that the proposed areas have no value to the fishing industry. The proposed closures include areas that the industry could have developed and, in fact, did want to develop. For example, the entire Kermadec zone is proposed for closure, and this zone is potentially very productive. It has not been fished yet simply because it is too far from ports.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000203\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f2759c472e43474c881d1984fcac01ce\u0022\u003ESue Moroney\u003C/span\u003E: Has the Minister seen any other reports on the merits of the industry proposal?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000204\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228415e962-886d-47b9-9356-3fdce746891f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225f6acc0e91d14a868be6f54bb02e5366\u0022\u003EHon JIM ANDERTON\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, I have. This morning the Christchurch Press quoted marine biologist Dr Steve O\u2019Shea, whom I understand is a consistent adviser to the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, and is the director of the earth and oceanic sciences research institute of the Auckland University of Technology. He said: \u201CIn my wildest dreams I never thought they would take something like this as a starting point. This is usually where you end. It\u2019s a totally commendable proposal,\u201D. The Press also stated that Dr O\u2019Shea was \u201Cblown away\u201D by the proposal, the likes of which he had never expected to see in his lifetime. According to the report, Dr O\u2019Shea would have to rewrite many of the speeches and university papers that he had prepared in the past that were critical of the industry, but he did not mind doing so.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000205\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbb83aab-9566-44c4-9029-8bda4aaca7f2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a5f1cbd3b7f048409d00629d132438b8\u0022\u003EPhil Heatley\u003C/span\u003E: Is the proposed benthic protection area set aside from bottom trawling a type of marine protected area, and how does it fit into that definition?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000206\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228415e962-886d-47b9-9356-3fdce746891f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222542c759f32e4cf78f4ab097bf54982c\u0022\u003EHon JIM ANDERTON\u003C/span\u003E: This is a unique proposal. It is the largest area ever put aside by any nation, in the history of this issue of fish conservation alongside economic development. It goes through the exclusive economic zone, and it is side by side, of course, with the marine protection policy that the Government is developing now and will announce later in the year. I know that my colleagues in the environment and fisheries areas are very supportive of this as a productive, forward-looking, and visionary proposal, but it sits alongside the marine protected area proposal, which will be finalised this year.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000207\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225634b01f931a40259d9e3018b7d4f9d4\u0022\u003EJeanette Fitzsimons\u003C/span\u003E: Will the Government be picking up the costs of enforcing these closures, or recovering the costs from the industry, or will industry compliance with the closure areas be voluntary?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000208\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228415e962-886d-47b9-9356-3fdce746891f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220b6f9f2a2d18474cb5223b699eb94a39\u0022\u003EHon JIM ANDERTON\u003C/span\u003E: No area of economic activity has such stringent user charges as the fishing industry. The Government, however, has the Project Protector programme in which it is investing $500 million of capital, and part of that will be operational in terms of agencies like the Customs Service and the Ministry of Fisheries. Fisheries and customs officers will be on those ships, and they will be monitoring and holding to account anyone who is transgressing these areas. That will, of course, add operational expenditure for the Government, but the fishing industry knows that it shares costs with the Government in a variety of ways. The details of that are yet to be worked through. I just advise and remind the member that these are draft proposals. They go out for full consultation, and then officials from both the Ministry of Fisheries and the Department of Conservation will advise the Government further. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000209\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209278070-a54a-41e9-8a27-45166301277e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b26117e537674488af822e3acf400813\u0022\u003EJeanette Fitzsimons\u003C/span\u003E: What consultation process will his ministry be undertaking, and with which stakeholders, before backing the industry proposal, and will all the ecological reports he referred to be made public?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000210\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00228415e962-886d-47b9-9356-3fdce746891f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ab0f7c65237e46bfa5302cb6aa3dd94d\u0022\u003EHon JIM ANDERTON\u003C/span\u003E: To answer the last point first, the fishing industry prepared very full details of its proposal, and they were made public yesterday. The consultation will include all stakeholders\u2014non-governmental organisations as well as fishing partners. All that material, and the official advice that comes to the Government as a result, will of course be made public. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000211\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022f2386bf22f4644e38d9b9735d566e6b4\u0022\u003EPrisons\u2014Overcrowding\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000212\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E12. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022412b910117c647a48c2c51761c54f2fc\u0022\u003ESIMON POWER (National\u2014Rangitikei)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Corrections: Does he stand by his statement that \u201Calmost 30 percent of the inmates\u201D currently in jail are \u201Cno risk to society\u201D; if so, why?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022 data-id=\u00227e5466357eef4b9891631e2128594165\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000213\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00227e5466357eef4b9891631e2128594165\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR (Minister of Corrections):\u003C/span\u003E I stand by my statement that almost 30 percent of inmates received into prison are sentenced to less than 6 months, and some of those inmates are no risk to society. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000214\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225ed93d25aaaf494ca104d6dcfc5b9648\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: Can he confirm to the House that his proposals to release almost 30 percent of inmates\u2014people who are \u201Cno risk to society\u201D\u2014will not compromise the Department of Corrections\u2019 primary goal of safer communities; if not, why not?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000215\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228c4fa64fcfa54de1839d19002468bf0a\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: I have no proposals. I was asked by the media what ideas had I learnt while on a trip overseas. I have qualified any of those ideas with an absolute commitment by myself, and by every Minister and member of this Government, that we will continue to catch, convict, and lock up serious and violent offenders. The record shows that we have been successful in doing that, and we will continue to protect society from violent and dangerous offenders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000216\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a31b838c4bd34416958ba0d21f9af7e1\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: Who is right: Phil Goff, who changed the sentencing, bail, and parole laws after the 1999 referendum on wanting tougher sentences, or the Minister, who now says that 30 percent of inmates are no risk to society, at all?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000217\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ae68f778aa3543ff8f053a787b20cd5c\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: I did not say that 30 percent\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000218\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002236250c89084148a9a009a1d7c1018a91\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, the Minister did. Here is the transcript from National Radio.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000219\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022475c2c650aa4490f8426774740ba182e\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: I welcome the opportunity to read the transcript of the interview, and I will do that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000220\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002294d165125ab144b5b77b7c9ed3925652\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: As long as it is short; otherwise table it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000221\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002201af88867b5042dd8b8d54aa047ba12f\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: \u201CThose low-risk offenders, the people who are spending less than 6 months in jail\u2014that is, almost 30 percent of inmates\u2014and people who are no risk to society but who have a debt to repay, and perhaps there is a better way of their repaying that debt.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000222\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222000de49445248c6a688e6b99e651e8d\u0022\u003ERon Mark\u003C/span\u003E: Has the Minister read the Department of Corrections\u2019 annual report 2004-05 and particularly the table headed \u201CRecidivism Index 12 Month Follow-up Percentages for 2003-04\u201D, which shows clearly that those people who are imprisoned for short periods of 6 months to 2 years have a far higher reimprisonment rate and reconviction rate than those sentenced to prison for over 5 years\u2014the figures are 30.4 percent reimprisonment for them, as compared with 18.9 percent reimprisonment for those with sentences of over 5 years\u2014and does that not say that people who are sentenced to prison for longer learn faster and do not reoffend?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000223\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222237801d168c44c19d321f93587c7656\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: The one sad reality, with all prison systems throughout the world, is that the recidivism rate is far too high for people who go to prison. That is why it is far better if there are other options, rather than sending them to prison. The other reality is that we have to work better on rehabilitation and reintegration programmes, so that people who leave jail stay out of jail.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000224\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bae20d8011004d539b903250c34cb934\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: Does the Minister stand by his statements on National Radio yesterday, where he said: \u201Cthe people who are spending less than 6 months in jail\u2014that is, almost 30 percent of inmates\u2014are people who are no risk to society\u201D, or does he consider that to be part of what the Prime Minister has referred to as \u201Csentencing creep\u201D?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000225\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223a5fd83715dd43c9bf1751d8ffd7e50b\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: As I have tried to explain\u2014and I am happy to table the full transcript after this question, and the member may choose to take a part of it\u2014I was clearly implying, and have done in many interviews over the last couple of days, that 30 percent of the inmates in jail are there for fewer than 6 months. By inference, that would imply that judges have deemed them not to have seriously offended. There are also in excess of 39 percent of inmates who are deemed to be of low risk to society. I think we have a moral obligation to look at better ways of dealing with offenders than simply locking them up and throwing away the key. I would like to remind the House that the member Simon Power is very enthusiastic about US policy, and that in the US they lock up people at three times the rate we do in this country. I do not want that member ever to become the Minister of Corrections.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000226\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222a1e31bee8514619b71f1912898eb0cb\u0022\u003EHon Phil Goff\u003C/span\u003E: Is the Minister of Corrections talking about that category of offenders who serve fewer than 6 months, which the previous National Government passed legislation on, through the Criminal Justice Amendment Act, that reduced the minimum sentence they had to serve from half of the sentence to a third of the sentence, or is it a different category of inmate, such as addressed by the Sentencing Act and the Parole Act, where the sentences have become much tougher and much longer, and inmates have to spend a much greater percentage of their sentence in jail, rather than being released early?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000227\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002209e062ae58a447cd9ec13d587f139d30\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: It is not the second category. It is the first category that I am looking to try to help. I applaud the efforts of that Minister in making sure that we catch criminals and lock up serious and dangerous offenders. Indeed, that is exactly what we have done in Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000228\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022117b1d4422424e43b7620aa8da10035d\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: Has the Minister just decided that it has all become a bit too hard for him, with budget blowouts, the increasing prison numbers, prisoners helping themselves to tea and coffee and showering at rugby clubrooms, and criminals applying for jobs as prison guards, and has he now decided to adopt a new policy of \u201Cif in doubt, let them out\u201D?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000229\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002251eb9524cc9742359a772e8f0411a0df\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: I am proud of this Government\u2019s record around corrections. We have committed almost a billion dollars to build four new prisons. We now have in place facilities to cater for the increasing number of criminals whom we catch, convict, and penalise in this country. But we have a moral obligation to look at ways of better rehabilitating and reintegrating low-risk offenders into society.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000230\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022b5f01fc929fd491eade7895816d130a2\u0022\u003EUrgent Debates Declined\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000231\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00229e811af61bc8460fbaf735001985d251\u0022\u003ETelevision New Zealand\u2014Finance and Expenditure Committee, Evidence\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022 data-id=\u0022862c26f6d7ae4680a6f3301fb0da95b9\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000232\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022862c26f6d7ae4680a6f3301fb0da95b9\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I have received two applications for debates on matters of urgent public importance. The first is from the Hon Murray McCully and relates to evidence given by the chief executive of Television New Zealand to the Finance and Expenditure Committee in the course of an inquiry into TVNZ. Even accepting that the evidence given by the chief executive is a matter involving ministerial responsibility, there is no case for an urgent debate. The matter is still before the committee, and the committee will be able to report on it as it sees fit. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000233\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00225bafeb61d2de459f919f8d9cd1841999\u0022\u003EHealth, Ministry\u2014Report of Controller and Auditor-General on Contracting Practices\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022 data-id=\u0022bce66f6c77b04959b957def33091e42b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000234\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022bce66f6c77b04959b957def33091e42b\u0022\u003EMadam SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: The second application is from the Hon Tony Ryall and relates to a report of the Controller and Auditor-General on the Ministry of Health\u2019s contracting practices. This is a particular case of recent occurrence involving ministerial responsibility. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000235\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022022cfe6b-bae4-4028-b68a-ccffb4269442\u0022\u003EHowever, I am not prepared to grant an urgent debate on this application, for two reasons. First, the debate on the Prime Minister\u2019s statement is under way. As Speaker\u2019s ruling 166/1 makes clear, the fact that a general debate of this nature is before the House, while not ruling such a debate out conclusively, is a relevant factor counting against acceptance. Secondly, the subject of the report can appropriately be examined in the course of the financial reviews of departments currently before committees and then in the financial review debate. Consequently, this application is also declined.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000236\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022db99fe9ce44547d09b0db358664af407\u0022\u003EDebate on Prime Minister\u2019s Statement\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000238\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022bb561b2ece194ee5b30e500e919a7811\u0022\u003EDebate on Prime Minister\u2019s Statement\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000237\u0022\u003EDebate resumed from 14 February.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022 data-id=\u0022bafc831aaf13474eab5ef3a79938afa9\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000239\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022bafc831aaf13474eab5ef3a79938afa9\u0022\u003ESHANE JONES (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E I continue from what I was saying last night in endorsing the very fine sentiments that were outlined in the Prime Minister\u2019s speech, in contrast with the behaviour of Dr Brash and members of the Opposition, who have done their darnedest to talk down the promise, the talent, and the worth of our economy. Obviously, we have been saying, and will continue to say at every opportunity, that one should not believe \u201CDr Doom\u201D or the lost tribe of the National Party. The economy is doing exceptionally well. GDP is racing ahead. Business profits are exponential. Growth is unrivalled. Investment beggars belief. We are continuing to search for more and more people to fill the growing number of jobs. Our international credit rating sees us enjoying a mouth-watering status in the eyes of our competitors and other members of the OECD. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000240\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EA particular point was made last night in relation to the value we place on families and young people, and no one has done more damage over the last few months to the aspirations of young people than Mr English, who has been wandering around dashing their hopes and undermining the examination system\u2014English by name, gibberish by nature. He has been doing everything he can to alienate parents from schoolteachers. Why? When he had the opportunity to develop a system and to promote it, he failed. The reality is that the system we have implemented and are promoting, and that we will continue to adequately fund, is an investment in our young people. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000241\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EWhat did we hear from Mr English during the election campaign? It was that he would have no bar of alleviating the student loan burden. Why? His reason was that he doubted whether students could handle the money. That is an obvious indictment on the man, and the less we see or hear from him in the education sector, the better it will be for our children. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000242\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EWhat else have we seen? A key element of New Zealand\u2019s identity, a key element of our national personality\u2014that is, our status in relation to nuclear matters\u2014is being constantly either undermined or confused by members of the National Party. Next, I have decided\u2014certainly in the far north\u2014that \u201CNats\u201D stands for \u201Cnuclear at torpedo speed\u201D. We will not agree to weaken or unravel our very proud antinuclear legacy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000243\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003EWhat else have we heard in relation to negativity? We have heard a monstrous, unsubstantiated attack on the credibility of our leader from members of the National Party, when all they need to do is look at their own behaviour and what they are doing to their own leader. He is dog-tucker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022 data-id=\u002294244f6047044965a14b4aabb9198785\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000244\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002294244f6047044965a14b4aabb9198785\u0022\u003EHon TONY RYALL (National\u2014Bay of Plenty):\u003C/span\u003E This Labour Party pledge card is a dishonest piece of paper that has on it a dishonest photo, and a signature that counts for nothing. The Labour Party is a party that has plundered the public purse with breathtaking arrogance. Don Brash was right when, square in the eye, he said to Labour yesterday: \u201CPay the money back.\u201D Two official bodies, the Chief Electoral Office and the Electoral Commission, have referred this dishonest piece of political campaigning to the police. It is the first time in the history of New Zealand that a political party has been referred to the New Zealand Police for overspending in an election. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000245\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003EMike Williams has confirmed that this pledge card was funded with taxpayers\u2019 money, and that Labour has done it before. Dr Cullen confirmed how Labour has funded its pledge cards in the past. He said that Labour had done pretty much the same thing in 2002, and questions were not raised. That is the argument that Mr Hodgson raised on radio today. Well, of course no questions were asked, because no parliamentary logo is on the card. It has written on it: \u201CAuthorised by Mike Smith\u201D, the secretary of the Labour Party, and \u201C160 Willis Street, Wellington\u201D. Who would have thought that that was taxpayer-funded? But now we have found that Labour has plundered the public purse again and that it breached the electoral spending limits last time, as well. Had Labour been caught by the electoral officials, it would have been found to be over the limit last time as well as this time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000246\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003EI want to ask about another dishonest Labour Party publication that was sent to nearly every home in New Zealand within days of the election. It is another dishonest brochure that has in it another dishonest photo. The photo bears absolutely only a passing resemblance to a person who has been investigated by the police at least twice and found wanting. It is another piece of expensive party political propaganda, funded by the public, and this party in Opposition asks whether it was declared as an election expense. Distributed to just about every home in New Zealand, was this declared as an election expense as it was plundering the taxpayers\u2019 purse to put the Labour Party back in office by yet again breaching the spending limits in this country? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000247\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003EHere is the real dishonesty. When the Government knew that the Auditor-General was on to its game, the Prime Minister was pretty tricky. She did not want to meet with him. She did not want to know. But the Government had constructive knowledge, because Minister Hodgson confirmed today that Minister Mallard and \u201CMinister Simpson\u201D met extensively with the Auditor-General to discuss his concerns about parliamentary party advertising. So nobody in this House should try to tell me that Helen Clark did not know what the Auditor-General was on about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000248\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003EWhat happened here was that that party opposite has got so used to breaking the rules and ignoring the law that it just did not get it when it came to this credit card. This is the Prime Minister who was investigated for art fraud. The police said that there was a prima facie case. She was as guilty as guilty, but it was not worth investigating her, because of her position. The police knew about the Prime Minister\u2019s involvement in the motorcade. The Prime Minister never talks to the police. She never answers their questions. She only sends a statement. I wonder what she will say about her involvement with this dishonest little card\u2014$420,000: 20 percent more spending on the election than Labour was allowed. Do not tell me that this has not had a material impact on the election campaign, the closest election campaign we have had in a generation in this country. Labour members should not stand here and say that the fact that they deliberately breached the law had no impact on the general election. That party stole the election by stealing money from the taxpayers. The Labour Party plundered money from the taxpayers. That is what the Labour Party did. The Prime Minister knows that it stole $440,000. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000249\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003EHow much did this publication cost? I ask Mr Mallard how much this cost.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000250\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c186d0a2-99f4-408b-9b4d-d484cf19724d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002276ae29bec0ac4bf2850ea8cdc6659445\u0022\u003EHon Lianne Dalziel\u003C/span\u003E: How much did yours cost?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000251\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229b9c83f4b04648f6a518b74cdc3ebaea\u0022\u003EHon TONY RYALL\u003C/span\u003E: I say \u201Ccheers\u201D to Minister Dalziel. I will shout her a drink if she tells me the truth. Tell me how much this cost. I will shout Lianne Dalziel a drink if she tells me whether this is included in the Labour Party\u2019s campaign spending as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000252\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003EThat party opposite is doing everything to try to muddy the waters on its electoral spending. We saw exactly that on \u201Cpaintergate\u201D. Remember: \u201COh, oh, who\u2019s complained?\u201D. It was all about the person who complained. When that was tired it was: \u201COh, oh, the law\u2019s confusing\u2014who knows?\u201D. But the law was not confusing. That is what the Labour Party is arguing: \u201CThe law is confusing.\u201D The law is not confusing, it is absolutely clear. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000253\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003EHow about this complete fabrication on National Radio today? Minister Hodgson said that one cannot go to the electoral officials and get an indication on whether something is included in the spending. He said that one cannot go to the officials. He said: \u201CI went to the officials once and I was declined.\u201D That is what he said on the radio; members heard it. The fact is they have been giving opinions to political parties in the election campaign like they were going out of fashion, and the Labour Party is caught on the skewer. It has used taxpayers\u2019 money to fund a dishonest little card with a dishonest photo, trying to tell New Zealanders what its commitments were. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000254\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003EBut let us just look at these two cards. I tell Minister Mallard that we have a card paid for by the taxpayers. And we have a card that Minister Mallard\u2019s party now admits was paid for by the taxpayers. What does the card state? It states: \u201CAuthorised by Mike Smith, 160 Willis Street\u201D, the secretary of the Labour Party. That is an election expense. No one complained about the public use of taxpayers\u2019 money with this. None of us thought there was public money involved, because it was authorised by Mike Smith. If it was public money, why would it necessarily carry an authorisation? And, there was no crest on the card. So that was another piece of dishonesty by someone involved in this campaign. Where was the parliamentary crest that should have been on this card if it was a taxpayer expense?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000255\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002237a8c255784e4bf68dbbb53d14e27a2f\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Because they are used to lies!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000256\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fd18f3c8d8cb437089252a2462c1181c\u0022\u003EHon TONY RYALL\u003C/span\u003E: Well, someone is used to lies, but we are not allowed to say it in the Parliament. But I have to say this. This party opposite should take Don Brash\u2019s advice and pay the money back. It should go and see its mates. Helen Clark came to Parliament to soak the rich and has spent most of her time in Parliament sucking up to the rich. She should go and see them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000257\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222546e35b463442c7bc46eeb3d9af53b1\u0022\u003EDarren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: That is not even original.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000258\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a83ea07a-806c-45ad-95bb-eb2c481cd0e2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002292c0508ed29f401499f93741e12ca366\u0022\u003EHon TONY RYALL\u003C/span\u003E: No it is not, but it applies. But here is a promise, and here is the credit card. I will tell the member this. That party opposite has plundered the public purse with breathtaking arrogance\u2014$450,000. How many operations could that have paid for? How many Child, Youth and Family Services carers could that have paid for\u2014how many services for New Zealand from this dishonest little card from that dishonest party opposite?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022 data-id=\u00221c70fdb6c71f43918a0f09df6d441d05\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000259\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221c70fdb6c71f43918a0f09df6d441d05\u0022\u003EHon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Defence):\u003C/span\u003E What a bitter, twisted little speech that was from a member who is now entering his seventh year\u2014his third term\u2014in Opposition. He represents a National Party that has never performed worse in the history of this country and that has not one but four pretenders to its leadership. He is the member who claimed just a few minutes ago that Labour was the first party to be referred to the police for overexpenditure. Members will remember that just before Christmas the National Party was referred to the police for overexpenditure in breach of theBroadcasting Act. That member cannot get a basic fact right. In fact, he cannot lie straight in bed.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000260\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bb47c2ffe45e4b569e420ca39be3c508\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: He is not straight!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000261\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222262e849b1914511af2572aa4e2d801d\u0022\u003EHon PHIL GOFF\u003C/span\u003E: He cannot be straight. I have learnt one thing in politics, and that is to be wary of the claims and the rhetoric of the self-righteous. That member is as self-righteous as any member in this House, about everything from sex offending to you name it. We know a few things about the self-righteous. We remember the saga of Graham Capill, the most self-righteous of all the leaders of political parties, and how hypocritical his self-righteousness was. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000262\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EWe have just seen a piece of hypocrisy and self-righteousness about overexpenditure. I have in my hand here the National Party pamphlet from the last election, entitled What National Stands For. What is important about it is that it has a parliamentary crest on the back, and that parliamentary crest shows that this pamphlet was paid for with taxpayers\u2019 money. This pamphlet\u2014doing exactly what the Labour pledge card does\u2014is paid for by the taxpayer, and it was put out in a little bag before the election to all constituents. That is a classic case of double standards and of hypocrisy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000263\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EIf only it ended there, but we have seen much, much more of that. Three weeks before the election Katherine Rich put out a statement, under the parliamentary crest, asking for the support of superannuitants on the basis of the National Party policy on tax cuts, paid for by the taxpayer, and again in breach of what National members have just been talking about. Is this National Party, which is complaining about the funding of Labour pamphlets, the same party that had billboards\u2014paid for by the taxpayer\u2014go up all over this country? Is this the same National Party? Is that another example of hypocrisy? Of course it is an example of hypocrisy, and there is so much more we could use by way of example. National Party members put out a questionnaire to constituents and asked them to send back a letter in the reply-paid envelope\u2014paid for by the taxpayer\u2014telling them how they were going to vote. The questionnaire asked constituents who they were going to support in the next election. If that is not politicking, what is? And who paid for it? It was the taxpayer. That is an example of more hypocrisy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000264\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EBut hypocrisy is not just a feature of the National Party. When I came to the House yesterday, Rodney Hide was on his feet talking about the Government plundering taxpayers\u2019 pockets. I have here an advertisement that appeared on 15 September 2005 in the Dominion Post. That was 2 days before the election. The advertisement states: \u201CWhat ACT brings to Parliament\u201D. That was put out under the parliamentary crest and paid for by the taxpayer. What hypocrisy we have heard from the Opposition over the last few days! If that were not enough, I have another advertisement here, showing an image very similar to Rodney Hide, leader of the ACT party, which is the two-person party in this House. One could reflect on this picture and put some black crosses through the photos that appear on it. There were eight members, but there are not as many as a while ago. This advertisement does exactly what the pledge card does. It sets out what ACT stands for and its promises on tax, crime, health, and so on. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000265\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EIf those members do not like the rules that exist in the House on expenditure, then we should change the rules, and we should change them for everybody. But let us not have any more of the double standards and the hypocrisy of saying that what Labour is doing is wrong, when in fact those members have been doing the same thing time and time again to even greater levels. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000266\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EWe saw another example during the campaign in the secretive and surreptitious campaign of the Exclusive Brethren in support of the election of the National Party. I know why the National Party wanted to keep that secret. Who in that party would want the public to know that a small group of religious extremists\u2014a sect\u2014was supporting their party for Government? The National Party did not want the public to know, to the extent that Don Brash said to the listening audience of Newstalk 1ZB that he did not know who had put out the pamphlets. He said he did not know. Two days later he owned up on student radio that he had known all along. He had been meeting with representatives of the Exclusive Brethren on several occasions. They had told him they were putting the pamphlets out. Don Brash deceived the public of this country. He was caught out. He was not telling the truth. Those were dirty tactics. That was an attempt to steal the election. But the attempt was not good enough, because that dismal National Party remains in Opposition. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000267\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EWhen one looks at the National Party, one sees what a dismal party it is. It is a party that is reduced to trying to talk down the country and to talk up recession. No wonder Don Brash was decried by the Sunday Star Times as \u201CDr Doom\u201D. This is the man whose only contribution to his own country was to try to talk it into recession and talk down how well it has been doing. The National Party is in an appalling situation. Just look at it. John Key was at the Taup\u014D meeting. He told the media that one of his senior colleagues had been dumping on him, saying he was ambitious for the leadership. What naivety! I ask Gerry Brownlee who that was. It was Gerry Brownlee who was doing it. But it was not just him; it was also Bill English. It was the two of them. But then I might be falling short, because that great friend and ally of the National Party Rodney Hide said there were three or four traitors in the National Party. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000268\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EIs this an Opposition that is preparing itself for Government? Is this an Opposition that is trying to work out forward-looking policies? Is this an Opposition that makes even the least attempt to be a genuine Opposition? No, this is a group of dismal, introspective people who are worried only about trying to seize the reigns of power within their own party\u2014a party that is going nowhere. One cannot blame Gerry Brownlee or Bill English, because it was Don Brash himself who said that one does not get a second chance when one is a loser; one goes. And no loser survives in the National Party. Of course, Don Brash could take heart from the repeated denials of John Key that he is after the leadership. But was it not Don Brash who in April 2003 said he was right behind Bill English? He was right behind Bill English\u2014with a big knife! That is what is going to happen to Don Brash. He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. But who will wield the sword? Will it be Gerry Brownlee? Will it be Bill English? Will it be John Key? Or is there another pretender? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000269\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003ESome of the back-benchers sitting over there must watch with sinking hearts the incompetence of the National Party leadership and shadow Cabinet. They acknowledge that their nuclear policy was a disaster, that it was confusing, and that it lost them votes. But are they prepared to change it? Murray McCully wants to, but Lockwood Smith does not. Lockwood Smith stood up at the caucus meeting in Taup\u014D\u2014Gerry Brownlee was there; he heard him say it\u2014and said that if the policy was changed then he would resign. Well, that is another reason to change the policy. That would be a very good thing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000270\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c699e7c6-53b9-470c-a14a-378cb6fc8a04\u0022\u003EFinally, I come back to the Prime Minister\u2019s statement. The Prime Minister provided us with a clear vision and a detailed policy agenda for the next 3 years. She made the point that we are not a status quo party, and we are not. We are here to make a difference. We are here for a better, stronger, more prosperous, fair, and inclusive New Zealand. We will do that by transforming the economy. We have made a good start. We are doing it in my portfolio of trade, and I hope that the National Party will be supportive of that. We are doing it by building a country that has regard to the need for the security of families and for opportunities for them. We will also see further progress on the Working for Families policy. We are creating a country where we can be proud of our national identity and our culture, proud of being an inclusive and harmonious multiracial society, and proud of the role that we as a country play in the world.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022 data-id=\u0022306626fb0efc4243a0b327a48772100a\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000271\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022306626fb0efc4243a0b327a48772100a\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS (National\u2014Clevedon):\u003C/span\u003E Would someone please get that man a happy pill. He really does need a bit of anger management, or certainly some sort of pill, and I am sure that there are members in the Government who could help him out.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000272\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002292d793313ecd43c4b683268fdfdd4ef4\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I point out that, following repeated requests on behalf of Nick Smith, that comment has been repeatedly ruled out of order. I ask that the member withdraw and apologise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000273\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e1bb0a9270574db482b94c8e64ceb0d1\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: The Minister is correct. That comment is not considered to be parliamentary.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000274\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228b265c7339b0487d98a2b4f78dadacc9\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Is the Hon Trevor Mallard taking personal offence at that comment?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000275\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e3b89c17d9214bb6bd6565cef29cc8a0\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: No, the Minister was referring to the way in which the member referred to another member. I think the Minister was quite clear about that. Comments about taking medication have been ruled out of order on several occasions. I think the member should withdraw and apologise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000276\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229243010c077d4b3b966b4601897572c7\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: I notice that you, Madam Assistant Speaker, did not pull up the previous speaker when he referred to Dr Don Brash with words other than his name.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000277\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cd774fac55ae40beb6763abbc3a270ee\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: Will the member be seated. That is a separate point of order. I have ruled on the point of order, and I have ruled on it as it is being heard now, and that is the correct one. If the member wanted to raise a point of order at another time, it should have been raised then.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000278\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002269e31202819045ddbd193dab5823b2cb\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: I withdraw, and do I also apologise to Mr Mallard?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000279\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c0a4b4c5c5c64b8abe5f78f3b9816133\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: No, the member will apologise to the House. It is very simple. The member has been asked to withdraw and apologise to the House. That is all that is necessary.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a9ecc10771ce42a2a2bc03037f6e127a\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: I withdraw and apologise. [Interruption] \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000281\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EIt was very good for Mr Hughes to come down here mincing along, carrying Helen Clark\u2019s handbag. He has gone all bright pink now. Poor Mr Hughes. He should just come out and be straight. He needs to learn a bit from his colleague on the bench Mr Tim Barnett, who has always been very straight about himself. I think poor Mr Hughes should just come forth and be honest.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000282\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E Who said this: \u201CMy signature is on it. I am accountable for it.\u201D? Who said that?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000283\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bfa5b74-8933-458a-99d4-bbd75d9898d0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227ae150fc96a94fa8b320170c8241a403\u0022\u003EChris Auchinvole\u003C/span\u003E: Who was it?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000284\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c96673f9f9c44d8bbd36283d08735796\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: I thank the member for asking. It was, of course, the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Helen Clark. When did she say that? She said it in May 1999 in her speech to the Labour Party conference. What was she referring to? She was referring to the little red card that was paid for by the New Zealand taxpayer. The problem was that New Zealand taxpayers did not know they were paying for it. It was just one of those little things. Now we are told that not only has $450,000 come from the taxpayer purse but the budget was overspent by that. The Labour Party spent 20 percent more than it was allowed to. It stole the election. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000285\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EThen we heard from Mr Cullen\u2014he is a history professor of course, so he would know this\u2014who said that the Government has done that before. It has done it not just once but twice. That is about $1.2 million of taxpayers\u2019 money. I wonder whether that was in addition to the amount that it overspent. I think the answer is yes. It is taxpayers\u2019 money. The Labour Party has now confessed that in three separate elections taxpayers have unwittingly paid for that card and for everything else\u2014the other pamphlets that came out in the week of the election\u2014as the Hon Tony Ryall showed us today. What did Helen Clark know? Well, she signed the card. There is a photo that looks remarkably like she did about 30 or 40 years ago. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000286\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002206be453be0a24af49aafa4b9b548e996\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: No!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000287\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d3ae2a1a0c304cc99cdedbcad33907bc\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: Mr Brownlee says \u201CNo!\u201D. It was paid for from her office budget of over $400,000, which she does not seem to know much about. I think it is so amazing that Mr Williams\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000288\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ac988b63289a4d339c6d9131a8a8bfba\u0022\u003EKatherine Rich\u003C/span\u003E: That\u2019s just the make-up cost.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000289\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220102a64833f34e2181c3d4502f3bc57e\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: I say to Mrs Rich that that is very unkind; I think that is terribly unkind, but probably true. It is sort of like the Hon Pete Hodgson\u2019s Kyoto Protocol promise. The protocol was going to make us half a billion dollars. It was going to bring that money into New Zealand, because Pete Hodgson had the deal for us. But what happened to \u201CMr Numbers Man\u201D? I ask Mr Brownlee what Mr Hodgson is in charge of now. Can Mr Brownlee remember? It is something. He was in charge of the election spending. He was on the radio this morning, saying that it was all unclear. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000290\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bfa5b74-8933-458a-99d4-bbd75d9898d0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225c07a375b15447b29d5e44e6e5a08c28\u0022\u003EChris Auchinvole\u003C/span\u003E: \u201CMr Fix-it\u201D. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000291\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fc5b43e1b6a34d14a35b13c1190d2388\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: \u201CMr Fix-it\u201D\u2014he is a strategist, apparently. I thank Mr Auchinvole. I was having difficulty remembering which story he was talking about, because it is always half a billion dollars or something like that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000292\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ffff330f-1757-41d6-9973-25244f0fdada\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c12eed8dd7fa4306a86cbf91a8004c36\u0022\u003EColin King\u003C/span\u003E: Either way.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000293\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022effc83b706e84626b3509bdf9667816c\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: Half a billion either way, as has been correctly pointed out. It is like that smear campaign undertaken by David Benson-Pope and Labour, when it sent out fake eviction notices to State tenants a few days before the election, telling them that if they voted National, they would be kicked out of their houses. What disgusting, foul behaviour! A lot of those people do not speak English very well, are frightened of the law, are old-age pensioners, or are without anything. That is what David Benson-Pope and this Government did to them. They did that deliberately. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000294\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EThe other question, as raised today by the Hon Tony Ryall, is how the Minister knew where those tenants all lived, and how he knew their names. Were the Housing New Zealand Corporation\u2019s records and database seized and gone through by the Minister\u2019s people? Did they do that? Did they get that information from the Housing New Zealand Corporation? It does not seem as though anyone who is not a Housing New Zealand Corporation tenant got that notice. That is what happened.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000295\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222a849ed4-a817-45a7-8b86-dbc9dd210193\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fa1cd6e82d404fbe8e46b0600d5d50fa\u0022\u003EJill Pettis\u003C/span\u003E: Most of us know how to use the phone book. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000296\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220122d8df7bd7457d8e50826a817da585\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: What did the former member for Whanganui say? She said that they went through the phone book. Well, the phone book apparently states, according to Jill Pettis, whether a person is a State tenant. That is one of the new rings. We in Manukau City do not have that in our phone book. What happened there? There are some very good questions to be answered. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000297\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EHow about Trevor Mallard\u2019s American bagman? Do members remember that? It was a great story; we are still waiting for it. That was the bagman. Now, apparently, it is a crime to be a member of a religious minority or an American\u2014worse if one is both. It was great to hear Phil Goff talking today about this Government\u2019s great multiculturalism and religious tolerance. We heard that, did we not? We heard that in full scream. Did Mr Goff once mention the trade unions? Trade union pamphlets went up and down the country to household after household, paid for by the trade unions and authorised by Darien Fenton, who just happened to be a Labour Party list candidate and who now sits in this House because of the work of that Service and Food Workers Union. How about that? Is that being taken into account? I bet it is not. [Interruption] If Mrs Pettis wants copies, she need not worry\u2014I have copies. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000298\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EHow about the $15 million Working for Families advertising campaign to tell four out of five working families with children that they do not earn enough money to keep their own children without extra money from the taxpayers? That is a disgrace. Government members have started that campaign again because they have so much taxpayers\u2019 money. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000299\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EI say to my colleagues in Parliament that the culture of any organisation starts at the top. One does not go to an organisation and say that the person who cleans up sets the culture. The culture starts at the top, and the culture of this Government and the Labour Party starts with Helen Clark. She sets the culture; she said before she came into power that she would set the culture. It is a new culture. Let us listen to what she said about Lianne Dalziel: \u201CI advised Lianne that in my view a clear line had been crossed between a statement which was misleading and a statement which was untrue.\u201D Most people would think it was a fib, one way or the other. I have been thinking about it, and what it means is that if a member gets caught, and it is too embarrassing and the Prime Minister cannot get the member out of it, she will put the member in purgatory for a little while, then bring him or her back. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EThis time Helen Clark has been caught like a rat in a trap. That is what has happened to her, just like it did to David Benson-Pope and Lianne Dalziel. This is the only woman who is so enthralled by Jim Sutton that, sitting in the back seat of a limousine, she could not tell they were travelling at 150 kilometres per hour. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000301\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002250a95a69927d44d9bf215ebaeb2ea157\u0022\u003EDr the Hon Lockwood Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Poor Jim Sutton!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000302\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228ef4cb2ae3c84e858fb9e40e3a793809\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: \u201CPoor Jim Sutton!\u201D, says Lockwood Smith. What happened? The police copped it. Jim Sutton is a nice enough chap, but I cannot imagine any woman being as enthralled as that by the very slow ramblings of Jim Sutton in the back seat of a car going at 150 kilometres per hour. She was just lost in a dream. Guess who copped it? The poor old police and the driver. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000303\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003EHelen Clark said, about standards in Government: \u201CI want Labour in Government to usher in a new era of political accountability and responsibility.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000304\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bfa5b74-8933-458a-99d4-bbd75d9898d0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220e44b57ee0b346169c0d2c218e2761b6\u0022\u003EChris Auchinvole\u003C/span\u003E: She certainly did that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000305\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c32752d5a6ee4c659f42f1fd1a42d4e0\u0022\u003EJUDITH COLLINS\u003C/span\u003E: She certainly did do that, like New Zealand has never seen before. It is a culture and standard of none. That is what that is about. There are lots of things that this Government is basically dishonest about in the way it presents information. Helen Clark is the leader of this Government. She is the leader of the Labour Party. She set the culture of dishonesty. She set a culture that said that Ministers can go through a revolving door whereby if they get caught, they can come back again after a little time, and everything is all right. Well, it just will not be all right any more. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022 data-id=\u00226fc9fae68c314cd58482484122181bbf\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000306\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00226fc9fae68c314cd58482484122181bbf\u0022\u003EHon ANNETTE KING (Minister of State Services):\u003C/span\u003E It is great to be back for another 3 long years in Government. I am still basking in the warmth of the support that the people of Wellington gave the Labour Party. I am also basking in the continuing endorsement by New Zealanders for Labour to lead this country for another 3 productive and happy years. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000307\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003EIt is great to be part of a caucus that likes each other. We can share a meal with each other, and we can sit down at a table and talk to each other. We can laugh together, we can work together, and we know the value of working with other parties to ensure we have stable Government in this country. We have come back, firing on all cylinders, looking forward to the next 3 long years in Government. More important, we have the privilege of being able to continue our policies for the good of the people of New Zealand. Over the next 3 years this country will see a number of things that were set out by the Prime Minister yesterday, but let us just look at a few of them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000308\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003EThere will be a major review of the structure of business taxation, new initiatives to get faster Internet access at more competitive prices, a rolling-out of major infrastructure programmes, and a big extension to the Working for Families package, by which 350,000 families will be entitled to tax relief in 2006. There will be an increase in the rate of New Zealand superannuation for our older people, and, for our younger people, no interest will be payable on student loans for those staying in New Zealand. There will be an improved rates rebate scheme and more affordable primary health care\u2014something that New Zealanders will look forward to, particularly those aged 40 to 55, who come into the net very soon under this Government. A thousand more sworn police officers will be on the beat in New Zealand over the next 3 years. That is just a few of the policies and improvements that we have on our agenda over the next 3 years. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000309\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003ENow, let us compare that with the agenda of the members opposite. Let us have a look at them. They have division, dissent, and despair. They are a disparate group of defeated deadbeats over there in the National Party, and they are led by \u201CDead Man Walking\u201D, Don Brash, and his supporters\u2014he says\u2014a cast of clowns opposite. [Interruption] Yes, \u201CDead Man Walking\u201D, Don Brash\u2014that is his name. He is leading the National Party, but who does he have supporting him in his cast of clowns? He has \u201CSuper Size Me\u201D, Gerry Brownlee. He is not a dead man walking; he is sleepwalking. Then we have \u201CFarmer Boy\u201D, Bill English. Well, he is leaking; he is one of the so-called leakers. Then we have sneering Tony Ryall, who is still moaning and mincing about his defeat 7 long years ago. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000310\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b93b4057b111445ebd2cc57955df3154\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I realise that the speaker on her feet is a member of very long years\u2019 experience in this House, but I would ask you to consider how any of her most recent comments in this House comply with the Standing Order that relates to personal reflections. Now, most of us do not mind that sort of thing, but it does seem to us on this side of the House that whenever we refer to Labour members or Ministers in a way that might be either colloquial or perhaps slightly derisory, the Chair is pretty quick to shut us down. If we, for example, were to talk about Helen Clark in a manner that probably best describes her in our view, then I think we would be asked to withdraw those comments. Now, the member may well be having a bit of fun, but she is a senior member of the Government. We have just heard the Prime Minister\u2019s speech, and it amuses us a little that that speaker would prefer to engage in this rather than try to defend the Prime Minister\u2019s speech\u2014which, of course, we all know was woefully inadequate. So, Madam Assistant Speaker, my question to you is this: how does that member\u2019s speech comply with the requirements of the Standing Order that relates to personal reflections?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000311\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022056615f9062e4812b5f1b791ee6352b4\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: I certainly judged that the member had used the names correctly, and it is very common for a comment to be made about a member. There are a lot of times when the issue is raised, and if we are going to get into ruling that out of order, I think we will have a lot more ruled out of order. If that is what members want, I will certainly reflect on it and discuss it with the Speaker. Certainly from what I heard, I would not rule it out of order, but I give the member an undertaking that I will look at it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000312\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ce2f8d09704f4f3cb1c2a46c3b164b5a\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: I do not want to challenge you, Madam Assistant Speaker, but I just recall how swift the Chair was to shut down references to \u201CHelengrad\u201D and other references such as the \u201CBaltic Beauty\u201D, which reflected on Helen Clark. They were completely ruled out, and instantly so, and, I think, quite correctly. But to sort of say that it is tolerable, if one is a Government member, to talk about Opposition members in a derisory way, is, I think, the real issue here. What still leaves us staggered is why this particular Minister is not prepared to defend the abysmal speech of the Prime Minister.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000313\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cf51626b6b4a40b6945a57fee2d6b0d6\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: No, no\u2014that last comment was not needed. I said to the member that I would consider the matter, but certainly I do not think we would have to look far back in Hansard to see that references of that nature have been made on both sides of the House, and quite frequently. So we will look at it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000314\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224753b7e31cfa4d5abe9b10b511007428\u0022\u003EHon ANNETTE KING\u003C/span\u003E: Is it not interesting? My speech is all about hypocrisy, and not long ago we had Judith Collins talking about the \u201Cdrawling Jim Sutton\u201D. Of course, that was OK for a senior front-bench member of the National Party.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000315\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002283218710899e4fcf828bba5312f0e0da\u0022\u003EJudith Collins\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. At no stage did I ever refer to Jim Sutton like that. That is absolute rubbish. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000316\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002245a64d4629954d77866c2c3e9f01c459\u0022\u003EHon ANNETTE KING\u003C/span\u003E: You did.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000317\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fdcd1bd06a6c424e8193540ae612f4d8\u0022\u003EJudith Collins\u003C/span\u003E: I did not.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000318\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227632b2b3326248ed87208ace95dd491d\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: Please be seated. Members cannot argue that across the House. That is not a point of order; it is a point of debate. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000319\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022371c34fe4f3441afa9b6a01c57968d20\u0022\u003EHon ANNETTE KING\u003C/span\u003E: It will be very interesting to see just how many of them will be sitting in those benches in 3 months\u2019 time. Will the faces change in 6 months\u2019 time? Who will walk the plank in the next year? Who will be pushed? Who will be promoted? And where is \u201CDr Paul\u201D? This is a continuing story of human conflict. I agreed with John Banks this morning. John Banks, who is a National man through and through, was speaking on \u201Ctruth radio\u201D, as he does every day, and I want to quote him. He said: \u201CI can\u2019t for the life of me ever see the National Party becoming the Government again.\u201D He said: \u201CDon Brash will never be the Prime Minister\u201D, and he should know. He knows that a loser never survives in the National Party. He went on to say that Helen Clark has got it all over the Opposition. I say: \u201CGood on you, John. Keep telling the listeners on \u2018truth radio\u2019 the truth, because that is the truth.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000320\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003EThe biggest piece of hypocrisy I have heard in this House for a while was when Don Brash gave his speech yesterday on campaign spending at the last election. This is a man who denied any knowledge about the vicious and lying Exclusive Brethren campaign and its pamphlets against the Labour Party and the Green Party. I can tell this House today that I know that Don Brash was told not to meet with the Exclusive Brethren. He was advised not to meet with them, but he ignored that advice, and that is why the appointment was not in his diary. It was not recorded in his diary. He went against that advice and met with the Exclusive Brethren. What was the purpose of that? The purpose was to mislead voters and cover up National Party expenditure by getting the Exclusive Brethren to stump up with the cash\u2014no DNA, no finger prints, no \u201CDondruff\u201D; just a sneaky little plan to defraud the public. Yet yesterday he accused the Labour Party of corruption. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000321\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003EWell, I know of only one corrupt practice that has occurred in this Parliament in the time I have been here, and that happened in mid-1999 when National members were clinging to power by their fingertips. Money\u2014taxpayers\u2019 money\u2014was given by a National Cabinet directive to a now-convicted fraudster, Donna Awatere Huata, to buy her vote. Money was passed over, without tender, without scrutiny, and the transaction was covered up by the National Party, until it found Donna Awatere Huata\u2019s fingers in the till. The Cabinet papers came out, and what did the Cabinet papers say? They stated in a National Cabinet directive that they would hand money over to Donna Awatere Huata for her vote. That is what it was for\u2014for her vote, and that was Pipi Foundation money, not pin money. That is what Donna Huata got to keep the National Party in power. That was the \u201Cdollars for votes\u201D scandal that we had in this House. If members want to talk about corruption, they will hear that I know of no time in the history of New Zealand when money was passed over to keep a vote so a party could stay in power. Judith Collins talked about pamphlets. She said it was OK to use taxpayers\u2019 money for pamphlets, as long as one tells people that\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000322\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002242e74162a9264407a1466b71c32194ba\u0022\u003EJudith Collins\u003C/span\u003E: No, I didn\u2019t.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000323\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225fc9df0718284454a1259de16c4d7578\u0022\u003EHon ANNETTE KING\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, yes she did. The member has amnesia. So I want to know whether Katherine Rich told the taxpayers in her letter of 29 August that they were paying for this letter, which sets out what was going to superannuitants.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000324\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fa73b50237be4dde95f483015769ebb5\u0022\u003EKatherine Rich\u003C/span\u003E: 29 August, was it?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000325\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221077f8e52262413facb0a744a974680a\u0022\u003EHon ANNETTE KING\u003C/span\u003E: It was 29 August. The member has forgotten she sent it out. Thousands of letters, paid for by taxpayers, told people how they would benefit from the National Party\u2019s policy. The letter gave guarantees about not cutting nurses, about there being no means tests\u2014blah, blah, blah. This letter was put out by a member just before the election\u2014but it was OK if she had told them she had used taxpayers\u2019 money. That member did not. Nowhere does it state: \u201CThis letter was funded with taxpayers\u2019 money.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000326\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003EThat member mentioned pamphlets that were paid for by the trade union movement. I have to say to Judith Collins that it proudly put its name on its pamphlets, and it paid for its pamphlets. Who paid for the pamphlets that had the name of no one we know on them? The Exclusive Brethren pamphlets did not even come from real addresses. I would direct members to have a look at the health pamphlet that the Exclusive Brethren put out in support of National, because the address that was written on that, which I just happened to visit, was an empty house. That is how honest they were\u2014the address given on the health pamphlet was an empty house in Christchurch. Talk about transparency! What hypocrisy!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022 data-id=\u00226d107194646b49c98d695ef98e642f74\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000327\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00226d107194646b49c98d695ef98e642f74\u0022\u003EKATHERINE RICH (National):\u003C/span\u003E If we needed any evidence of just how desperate the Government is, we just needed to listen to the speech of that member, Annette King. The Government\u2019s way of explaining away the use of $450,000 of taxpayers\u2019 money is to be found in three arguments: firstly, by mentioning the Exclusive Brethren apparently, according to Annette King; secondly, by bringing up Donna Awatere Huata, a total red herring; and thirdly, by talking about a letter that I sent on 29 August. How desperate is that!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000328\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003EBut I think Labour has walked into a bit of a trap there, because one of its own members has been less than honest about what he was doing in the lead-up to the election. Members can call me old-fashioned, but I thought the sending out of letters by MPs in the course of their daily duties was small beer. That member, Annette King, is totally unaware of a letter that was sent out on 12 September 2005 by her colleague David Benson-Pope, leading up to the election. The member is nodding, but she does not know that this is a different letter. It is not that scandalous piece of pap sent out as a flier to State house tenants but a letter with a parliamentary letterhead to those tenants. That one short letter mentions the word \u201Cvote\u201D not once, not twice, but six times in its course. I would like to read from David Benson-Pope\u2019s letter so the member can understand: \u201CBut I need your help so I can continue to help you. Your two votes, for the labour party and for me as the local Labour MP, are vital at this election. And the votes of everyone in your household who is over 18 and a permanent resident.\u201D Then he goes on to tell them that if they are not enrolled, they can get on to the roll: \u201CPlease ring my office \u2026\u201D if you are having trouble getting on the roll. \u201CPlease make sure that everyone in your home who is eligible to vote is on the roll and does go out to vote on election day.\u201D The letter mentions the word \u201Cvote\u201D six times.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000329\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003EAnnette King is sitting on the other side of the House looking smug, but if she looks at this letter she will see the parliamentary crest. The letter is written with the Labour Party letterhead, and it asks for votes. Every member in this House knows that any material that goes out with that crest on it is not allowed to ask for a vote. We can have an esoteric debate about whether an MP is doing his or her work, but it is quite clear that if a letter asks for a vote, and mentions the word \u201Cvote\u201D not once, not twice, but six times in one letter, then that is totally out of order and totally not allowed. I have had this letter for quite some time, but I thought that that sort of stuff was small beer compared to $450,000\u2014or well over $1 million, if one tallies up the other credit card pledges that that Government\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000330\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002209a5b71a-ca7e-4e7c-9e09-f9e63f18aa12\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224ed488179730468fbbb6a980b0cc549b\u0022\u003EHon Annette King\u003C/span\u003E: And $1 million from the Exclusive Brethren.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000331\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ac2883e7c2284186865ec627eb414e56\u0022\u003EKATHERINE RICH\u003C/span\u003E: Now, she is changing tack. I think Mr Benson-Pope will be in for a bit of trouble. Somebody did not tell Helen Clark that he had sent out a letter on Labour Party letterhead with the parliamentary crest. Somebody did not tell Helen Clark before she went into the House today. No one said: \u201COops, we shouldn\u2019t let her mention a letter that was sent out in the course of another MP\u2019s duty some 3 weeks ago because, oops, there is a letter here that was sent out in the week before the election with a parliamentary letterhead.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000332\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003EToday I want to talk about economic development, because that is an area of huge embarrassment for the Government. It is quite clear that the \u201Cjobs machine\u201D is a hoax, and that Jim Anderton has left the economic development portfolio in an absolute shambles. Why else would the Prime Minister change Ministers and send in Trevor Mallard if there were not a mess? In the last week or so Minister Mallard has announced a review of all schemes. That is all very well, but one of the things the Minister failed to mention was that he will be reviewing schemes that have not even been in existence for more than 3 years. Labour has found that its schemes are an absolute mishmash of dual objectives, project overlaps, and mistakes made. If the member on the opposite side of the House does not agree with me, she need only look as far as the Auditor-General\u2019s report in 2004, and an extremely damning review from officials in 2005, which clearly point out that the Government has huge problems when it comes to those grants schemes. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000333\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003EThe Government is failing to understand that most businesses do not actually see many of those schemes as being a good thing; in fact, some see them as being cluttered, unfair, and not something they want to support if there is a trade-off between having those schemes and having lower taxes, fairer regulations, better employment laws, and an environment that allows them to do business. I want to read out a letter that I received last week from a businesswoman: \u201CI am the owner of a furniture design firm struggling to stay New Zealand - made. My husband and I pay high taxes on his income, and have to watch Trade New Zealand give enormous amounts of money to my opposition in the form of grants. The grants scheme has become an industry in itself. There are experts in getting grants who take a fee to move your business on to the gravy train. There are many examples of money being given to prop up businesses that are not feasible or shift offshore deliberately to close their doors as soon as they have taken all the grants they can.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000334\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003EOne of the things the Labour Government fails to see is that it is not sound economic policy to set up schemes that are designed more to get Jim Anderton and Helen Clark in photos than to assist businesses to do their work around the country. We have seen this Government turn the creation of photo opportunities into a high art. Jim Anderton, in particular, travelled around the country handing out cheques as if they were his own money. Today we have a full understanding of why. The Labour Party, in particular, does think the money is its own, and that is why it will not pay back those taxpayers\u2019 funds that have been scandalously used to fund its own propaganda.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000335\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003E Good economic development policy is more than creating photo opportunities for Ministers. Good economic policy looks at some of the macroeconomic factors such as the good economic conditions for creating an environment where there are lower taxes, where people can hire people, and where people are able to ensure they can do business well, without having the heavy-handed approach of the Labour Government. I think Lianne Dalziel, the Minister for Small Business, accepts that. That is why she said that one of the main reasons, unfortunately, why many very small businesses\u2014ones with no employees\u2014will not take on staff is that they are frightened of employment issues and have been subjected to professional grievance claims. That is true, but I question her as to what she will do about it. If anything, we know that employment law changes are not on the agenda for this Government. In fact, they will make it tougher for a number of businesses in New Zealand when those businesses make changes to their vulnerable workers legislation this year. They will make it more difficult for the firms that Helen Clark has had her photo taken with\u2014for example, CleanTastic, winner of the franchise of the year\u2014to be in business. Those businesses are the mum and dad operations that keep this country going.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000336\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003EThe whole economic development area is in a total shambles, and that is of Labour\u2019s making. The jury is out about whether the merger has been a good one, but one of the things that has not been highlighted is the fact that Trevor Mallard is actually reviewing and trying to tidy up what has been Labour\u2019s mess. Labour members rushed together their plans and programmes, and thought more about photo opportunities for themselves than they did about the businesses they intended to help. They made companies like Jack Link\u2019s the poster companies for their failed initiatives, and I think they did the business community a disservice by tying it up with something that is actually a propaganda scheme for the Labour Party.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000337\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002295ac7206-f497-429d-bf58-715224d5160f\u0022\u003EWe would like to see the economic area tidied up. We think that if Government members want to help all businesses they should lower taxes, change employment laws, stop handing out small cheques, and do something that assists all businesses in this country, not just Labour\u2019s favourites. Government members have focused on the chosen few glamour companies rather than looked at the whole economic package.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022 data-id=\u00222b78e780ef7e4cd49a6a810082d4f754\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000338\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00222b78e780ef7e4cd49a6a810082d4f754\u0022\u003EHon PAUL SWAIN (Labour\u2014Rimutaka):\u003C/span\u003E We could not have a more interesting contrast between the parties in Parliament than in that demonstrated in what we have been hearing over the last little while. There is the Labour-led Government, which won the election for the third consecutive term, back on track and talking about the key issues that New Zealanders want to talk about. It is talking about the economy and economic transformation, and making sure the economy is performing to provide the services that New Zealanders want. It is talking about the importance of families, young and old, being able to receive the services that come from a thriving economy, and the importance of our being able to continue with the development of our unique national identity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000339\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EWe can contrast that with the strange, odd, and funny goings-on within the National Party. The more we hear about the leadership of the National Party, the more it sounds like another episode of Desperate Housewives. It sounds exactly like that. When we see another episode of Desperate Housewives, what we see is the leader of the National Party having constantly to tell everyone that he is the leader of the National Party, when he and everybody else knows that he is not, really. There is the first desperate housewife.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000340\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EThen we have the second one, who is the party\u2019s deputy leader. Gerry Brownlee wants to be the leader, so he spends a lot of his time undermining one of the serious candidates, John Key. So the deputy leader, Gerry Brownlee, wants to be the leader, and he sees his only hope is to undermine and torpedo the serious contender John Key.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000341\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EThere is John Key himself. He is the party\u2019s finance spokesperson. He wants to be the leader, he says, but not just yet. We in Parliament know that \u201Cnot just yet\u201D is the code for \u201CI haven\u2019t got the numbers yet.\u201D That is what that phrase means.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000342\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EThen, of course, there is the previous leader, Bill English, who wants to be the leader again. There is another desperate housewife. He wants to be the leader, although he has already had a go and they threw him out. Who threw him out, and who rolled him? It was the other desperate housewife called Don Brash. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000343\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EThere was another desperate housewife: the justice spokesperson, called Simon Power. He was once picked in the media as a future leader. That is usually the kiss of death in this place. Being picked by the media as a future leader, by and large, means that one never makes it to have that happen. Of course, that desperate housewife can see that his opportunities are slowly slipping away. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000344\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EThey are all desperate. They are all dateless, all fighting, and all bitter, and the back bench, of course, is totally and utterly confused by it all. Most of those back-benchers come in here wanting to do their bit for their electorates, and find that they are totally and utterly embroiled in leadership shenanigans and goings-on that make Desperate Housewives look like a very, very poor soap. And, of course, the important thing those members will be asked very, very shortly\u2014and there are two of them over there\u2014is which horse they will be on, because the horse they are on will determine their personal future in this Parliament.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000345\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EWill they stay loyal to Don Brash? I heard Nick Smith say that he would bet a good bottle of Marlborough wine that Don Brash will be the leader going into the next election. Well, there would not be too many people willing to put bottles of wine on that, and I wonder how many of those back-bench MPs will be saying that, yes, they are all with Don this time. Will they be with John Key, and when will he make his move? Will they be with Gerry Brownlee? What about Simon Power and Bill English? And, of course, some other horse could come through the middle.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000346\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EI say to back-bench National Party members that their time is coming. They will have to choose, and that back bench will not be the same again, because there will be splits and divisions. There will be people who supported one candidate and then said they should have supported the other, and that will go on for 3 years\u2014mark my words. A party cannot survive and say it is a credible party when just a summary of the headlines says otherwise. I will run through just a few of those headlines: \u201CDon Brash, the bouncy kangaroo\u201D, \u201CAre Don Brash\u2019s days numbered?\u201D, \u201CTop job still a worry for Nats\u201D, \u201CGloomy Brash at odds with analysts\u201D, \u201CBrash on a hiding to nothing\u201D, \u201C \u2018Stop gossiping\u2019 MPs told\u201D, \u201CDr Brash will not be Prime Minister\u201D, \u201CDon\u2019t believe Dr Doom\u201D, \u201CBrash demands Nats\u2019 loyalty\u201D, \u201CBrash determined to keep his job\u201D, and \u201CNational tries to end internal rifts\u201D. A leader cannot go around the country and tell people his party is a serious Opposition party, ready for Government, when he cannot even govern his own party. That is one of the fundamental laws in this place: no party has ever, ever contended an election seriously when it cannot get its own house in order. That message goes back over time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000347\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003ELet us play a little game called \u201CSpot the Difference\u201D. We sometimes see this in cartoons in papers, and we are asked what the difference is between two pictures. In April 2003 Dr Don Brash said: \u201CBill English has my full support.\u201D In February 2006 John Key said this about Dr Brash: \u201CI have very publicly on dozens of occasions outlined my unconditional support for him. I\u2019ve actively worked hard and will continue to work hard to ensure that he is a very successful leader.\u201D Again, what about April 2003 in our game \u201CSpot the Difference\u201D? Dr Brash said: \u201CThere\u2019s been nothing which you would call a coherent or organised plot,\u201D. Then in October 2005 John Key said: \u201CThere is no grand master plan behind the scenes, like we go after him after six months,\u201D. That is \u201CSpot the Difference\u201D No. 2. There has been a \u201CSpot the Difference\u201D No. 3. In May 2003 Dr Brash said: \u201CI was at no point aiming at leadership when I came into politics.\u201D That is what he said. What did John Key say in October 2005? He said: \u201CI have no intention of challenging Don,\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000348\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EWe could play this game all afternoon, if we had the time. Regrettably, I do not. All I am saying is that no party can be serious. Jane Clifton summarised it absolutely beautifully by saying that Dr Brash is, in short, an old dog who has not learnt the requisite new tricks of politics. That is true; he has not and he will not. That is why he will not be around for long. Nobody believes that he will be the leader going into the next election.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000349\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ba6fde7e-93f4-4636-9ce2-02c07007973a\u0022\u003EWhile the National Party will be totally consumed for the next 3 years by its leadership and its leadership struggles\u2014and every week the back bench will be drawn more and more into those\u2014the Labour-led Government will be able to get out and promote the key issues that New Zealanders want to hear. They do not want to hear constant arguments about the National Party leadership. They are bored with that. What they want to hear is what the policies are that will affect them. We did not hear one policy from Dr Brash yesterday. From the Labour leader we heard three key issues: economic transformation, the importance of families, young and old, and the importance of building on our national identity. That is what New Zealanders want to hear about. They want to hear about the real issues. They do not want to hear about all the leadership shenanigans going on. The prediction is that until the National Party resolves its leadership problems and squabbles, and until it gets the hang of that, it does not deserve the right even to contend the election in 2008.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022 data-id=\u002241ffa51fb1ad415983d5fe0e120883bb\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000350\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002241ffa51fb1ad415983d5fe0e120883bb\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CARTER (National):\u003C/span\u003E One would have hoped\u2014certainly my colleagues and I would have hoped\u2014that we might have got the former Minister of Commerce on his feet to talk about the real issues that face this country and the real challenges that face the economy. Instead of that, we had a 10-minute diatribe with the same theme we have had from every Labour member of Parliament who has taken part in this debate so far.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000351\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EA real stench is developing around this Government\u2014a horrible, horrible smell\u2014as it lurches from one scandal to another. We had evidence of it briefly on television last night at 6 o\u2019clock. There was a story from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade about a niece of Winston Peters, who had obviously bypassed all protocols within the ministry and gone straight to the media to make some rather extravagant claims about spending on a diplomatic home in Taiwan. The issue is not whether the expenditure was unapproved; the issue is whether the niece of Winston Peters has any right to discuss Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade matters in that way. And where was the Minister of Foreign Affairs on that issue? He was shown on TV last night running from the TV cameras. Winston Peters, who is not known for running from TV cameras very often, is now developing the same tactic as every other member of the Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000352\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EBut that scandal pales into insignificance compared with the one that has been debated day after day more recently. That is the revelation of Helen Clark taking $440,000 of taxpayers\u2019 money to print her pledge card, which bears a photograph that looks a little like her. It is certainly a card that has her signature\u2014a card she said she accepted full responsibility for. That matter has now been referred to the police.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000353\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EThe amazing thing about the Prime Minister of this country is how many times she has been referred to the police. How many? Is it once, or twice? No, it is three times. In 2002, we had the \u201Cpaintergate\u201D scandal, when the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, forged a painting. The police investigated and stated categorically that there was a prima facie case for her to answer, but for some reason, which the police and only the police should be able to explain but which they have never been able to explain, they decided not to prosecute. That was just the first time that Helen Clark had been in trouble with the police, and the next time was \u201Cspeedgate\u201D. Last year, on the main south road in Canterbury, her car travelled at speeds of up to 170 kilometres an hour. Six people were charged, five of them being police officers. All of them were carrying out the orders of the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, but she was not called to account. Now we have the third time. She is before the police again, with serious questions being asked about the expenditure of public taxpayer money. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000354\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EThose sorts of debates are unacceptable to this country. The very least the Prime Minister should do is stand up in Parliament, acknowledge she got it wrong, acknowledge she breached the Electoral Act\u2014if not in law, certainly in spirit\u2014and pay that money back. She has her mates. She keeps talking about the National Party\u2019s association with the Exclusive Brethren but never about her association with the trade union movement of this country\u2014the movement that takes massive amounts of union fees from New Zealanders compulsorily, thanks to a law put through this House, helped by Ross Wilson of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. That money has the ability to find its way back into Labour Party coffers, and I am sure it does. Helen Clark should use some of that money to pay back the taxpayer money she has expropriated.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000355\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EIt is enough to make me recall Jim Anderton saying only yesterday: \u201CGive me a break!\u201D. Talking about Jim Anderton, I say that the people of New Zealand have given that person a tremendous break. What a bizarre choice to give that man the portfolio of Minister of Agriculture, but the farmers of New Zealand have said that they will give him a chance. They will see whether he has any empathy with the issues that face the farming community.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000356\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EJim Anderton\u2019s first big test was on the access of New Zealand apples into Australia. I would have expected that he would be enthusiastic about progressing that case for New Zealand apple growers, so I asked him some parliamentary questions on how many emails, letters, and phone contacts he had had with Peter McGauran, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in Australia. I expected that bundles of correspondence would have flown back and forth. We found out that there was one letter of correspondence between the Australian Minister and the New Zealand Minister of Agriculture, Jim Anderton. When I further investigated that one letter, I was amazed to find out that it was not from Jim Anderton expressing any concern for New Zealand apple growers; it was a letter from Peter McGauran to Jim Anderton congratulating him on his appointment. That is the only correspondence between the two Ministers. In other words, Jim Anderton had made no contact and no effort at all to represent the concerns of New Zealand apple growers. That message has not been lost on New Zealand farmers.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000357\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EWe face some major issues. Before the last election Helen Clark had her favoured idea of opening up private land to public access. The voters of New Zealand displayed their complete dislike of that legislation. The National Party took every provincial and rural seat in the last election, and it was over that issue. But that issue still bubbles away. A consultation panel meets\u2014I think it has met about four or five times\u2014but Helen Clark has not given up on her determination to take away the property rights of private landowners in this country and open their land up to the public. At the same time, the Department of Conservation continues to grab more and more of New Zealand, and one of the first actions it takes is to close the conservation estate to access by New Zealanders. So that is another issue.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000358\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EThe next issue that Jim Anderton has been completely silent on is the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) levy increase announced just before Christmas. Self-employed New Zealand farmers now pay 140 percent more in premiums for on-farm accidents. That sort of level of increase is just unacceptable to the New Zealand farming sector. We had a meeting last night with Meat and Wool New Zealand, and members of that industry told us that two of the reasons for the dramatic fall in the lamb schedule were Government charges in the form of the ACC levy and changes to the Employment Relations Act. So those concerns need to be addressed by Jim Anderton.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000359\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EI want to touch on the issue of rural crime, because we note that Damien O\u2019Connor has now invented a new policy of \u201Ccatch and release\u201D. The Government is going to get tough on criminals: it will catch them, put them in jail, and then give them a key and tell them that how long they stay there is a voluntary matter. That is unacceptable to most New Zealanders. Phil Goff, Damien O\u2019Connor, and other members of the Labour Party need to be honest and come clean about their policy on crime in this country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000360\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003EThe final issue that needs resolving, and resolving urgently, is that of the Kyoto Protocol. Helen Clark ratified the protocol without any notion at all about how that would actually reduce emissions in this country. The Government came up with another tax\u2014the carbon tax\u2014and then dropped it after realising how stupid it was. It was about as stupid as the \u201Cfart tax\u201D. The Government now has no solutions at all to something that at this stage will cost New Zealand taxpayers at least $600 million in the first commitment period.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000361\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e4b09a29-dfd3-42c0-8585-11463bd6077b\u0022\u003ESo I say that those are the challenges that Labour and, in particular, the Minister of Agriculture, ought to be taking the time to accept, and to do something about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022 data-id=\u0022d186b4f194a04a7aa4d45e10c19d3355\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000362\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022d186b4f194a04a7aa4d45e10c19d3355\u0022\u003EHONE HARAWIRA (M\u0101ori Party\u2014Te Tai Tokerau):\u003C/span\u003E T\u0113n\u0101 koe e te rangatira o te Whare. T\u0113n\u0101 hoki t\u0101tou katoa e nohonoho nei, t\u0113n\u0101 koutou. Kia ora t\u0101tou katoa. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000363\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E[Greetings to you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and to all of us as well, seated about. Greetings.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000364\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EThe other day my wife said to me that when I got back to Wellington I should ask Parekura: \u201CHow come his Government can spend $150 million building a prison in Ng\u0101wh\u0101, but our kura has to run a cake stall to pay for its books.\u201D Parekura knows, as does Shane Jones\u2014as does the Prime Minister herself\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000365\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222eecaa04ef4648719179bc5b323e1d67\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: I am sorry to interrupt the member. I know he is new, but he needs to use the member\u2019s full name or \u201Cthe Minister\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000366\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b65eb8a5207a4b2199a47da8e4dcdffe\u0022\u003EHONE HARAWIRA\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you. That is an issue my wife is right about. We spend $80,000 a year keeping a guy in jail and\u2014I know about schools, because I am the chairman of my kura\u2014we spend $6,700 a year to send a kid to school. I say it again: we spend $80,000 to keep a guy in jail but spend only $6,000 to send a kid to school. There has to be something wrong with that picture, and surely we can do something about it. Surely we can do better than that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000367\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EI recall that during the election campaign I was with Phil Goff, and I heard him bragging about how many people Labour had put into jail. I thought: \u201CWell, hoo-bloody-ray about that!\u201D. Now, all the jails are full but Labour has no plans, no ideas, no notion whatsoever about how to resolve the crisis jails are in, expect for what the previous speaker referred to: the \u201Ccatch and release\u201D theory, or stick them in for the week and then let them go home. How sad it is when our Government spends more on keeping people locked up than on educating those who are supposed to be our future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000368\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EGiven that most of those who are expelled from our schools and most of those who are in jail are actually M\u0101ori, I could ask myself why it is that the M\u0101ori members of the Labour Government can sit silently while that travesty is carried out by their own colleagues. How can they sit silently in this House while their own Government treats their own people so poorly? Mita Ririnui is the only one in the Chamber at present to hear this on behalf of all his mates. I apologise for stating the obvious but it seems to me there can be only one of two reasons why they stay silent. First, either they agree with Labour\u2019s policy of making prison a priority for M\u0101ori over education or, second, they are either too scared to say something about it or they are getting paid too much to say something about it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000369\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EThe other day I heard a whisper that this Labour Government is considering dumping Judge Joe Williams from the M\u0101ori Land Court because he dares to be a little bit too M\u0101ori, and that it is going to appoint six new P\u0101keh\u0101 judges to the court to start reversing some of the decisions of the past few years. I thought to myself: \u201CNah, surely not. Surely Mita Ririnui and the M\u0101ori caucus would have said something about this if it was true.\u201D But we have heard nothing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000370\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EJust last week someone told me that the Government is putting together the steps to take references to the Treaty out of all legislation. That is the Labour Government I am talking about, not National. Members know the one\u2014friend of the M\u0101ori people, ally of the R\u0101tana Church, companion to the K\u012Bngitanga, bodyguard to the Treaty. Taking all references to the Treaty out of legislation\u2014can we believe it? Again, I think to myself that that cannot happen. Surely Mita Rurinui and the \u201Cbrown brigade\u201D in the Labour Party will not just sit back and let that happen. Surely not! They would give us a bell, at least. They would warn us so that we, the M\u0101ori Party, can at least mount a campaign against it, even if Labour is not going to do so. Again, there was nothing\u2014not a peep out of them. So I say to Mita Ririnui that now is his chance to save himself and his comrades. He should go to the press after this speech and say that Hone Harawira is wrong, Hone Harawira is lying. Labour is not going to dump Joe Williams, and its guys are not going to overdose the M\u0101ori Land Court with six P\u0101keh\u0101 judges. And the Government is not going to be taking references to the Treaty out of legislation. M\u0101ori people are waiting, I say to him\u2014waiting and waiting.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000371\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EI have chosen this time to challenge my M\u0101ori colleagues in Labour to step forward and join with the M\u0101ori Party in the defence of M\u0101ori rights and in the advancement of M\u0101ori interests for the benefit of the whole nation, simply because no one else is going to do it. No one else will stand up for the Treaty if we do not first stand up for it for ourselves. No one else will stand up for kaupapa M\u0101ori if we M\u0101ori MPs right throughout the House do not stand up and do it for ourselves. No one is going to stand up for our wh\u0101nau if we do not first do it for ourselves. Yes, the M\u0101ori Party is small, and yes, we are not in Government, but with the support of other M\u0101ori MPs there is heaps we can achieve.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000372\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EI know I am a new MP and on many things I defer to those who have been here for many more years than I have, but in the first 3 months I have been in the House I have noticed that no M\u0101ori MPs in the House\u2014none, except those in the M\u0101ori Party\u2014have spoken of any initiatives aimed at raising M\u0101ori achievement. I have heard other MPs talk about general policies, but nobody has talked specifically about M\u0101ori policies aimed at raising M\u0101ori achievement except the M\u0101ori Party MPs. Why is that? I have the answer: it is because they are not allowed to stand up and say something positive about M\u0101ori. They are not allowed to on this side of the Chamber, because Don Brash will not let them, and not on the other side because Helen Clark will not, either. Yet there is every reason for them to stand alongside us, to stand up for themselves, and to stand up for their own people.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000373\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EThe national school drop-out rate is only 10 percent but the M\u0101ori drop-out rate is more than 25 percent. I ask the Government, and in particular the M\u0101ori Labour members, what they are doing about it. What are Mita Ririnui and the other guys doing about it? The national unemployment rate is only 2.5 percent, but the M\u0101ori unemployment rate is 7.5 percent. Again, I ask what the M\u0101ori members are doing about it. Our population is only 15 percent, but our prison population is 50 percent. Again, I have to sheet it home to the M\u0101ori members. I do not expect them to achieve everything for everybody, but I do expect them to achieve results for M\u0101ori\u2014and it is simply not happening.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000374\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EI say to Mita not to try to sweet talk us about his Government\u2019s programmes, because when someone wants to know how committed the Government is to M\u0101ori he or she need look no further than last year\u2019s Budget, where Michael Cullen mentioned the word \u201CM\u0101ori\u201D as often as his Government is committed to honouring the Treaty\u2014not at all. The fact is that Labour has no plans whatsoever to lift M\u0101ori out of the spiral of poverty and dependence, because it now holds to the view that there are no M\u0101ori problems, only problems for the needy. Why? So it can pretend there is no M\u0101ori poverty. That is why. So it can make M\u0101ori just another ethnic minority in this country. That is why. So that it can tell the United Nations that M\u0101ori have no problems any more. That is why.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000375\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003ESo I have to ask Mita Ririnui, Mr Horomia, Mr Okeroa, Ms Mahuta, Mr Samuels, Mr Hereora, Ms Mackey, Ms Beyer, Ms Pettis, and Mr Shane Jones whether they knew that their Government had abandoned its commitment to M\u0101ori. Were they told, or were they ignored, just as they were ignored when the Government announced that it was going to steal our foreshore and seabed? I ask those guys to be honest and say exactly what the response of the M\u0101ori Labour Party caucus is to those crippling statistics and ongoing attacks on M\u0101ori? Why are they saying that the M\u0101ori Labour caucus has no plans to oppose this Government\u2019s continued trampling of M\u0101ori rights? It is enough that they tell themselves they are right when their people are telling them otherwise, and how do they tell those people that Labour is doing anything for them when they know that it ain\u2019t?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000376\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003EI say to Mita Ririnui and his mates that this is not a personal attack. It is not an attack on their mana, nor am I trying to belittle them in this House. But in this House we are all accountable for the positions we take. Our leader, Tariana Turia, took the ultimate step when she publicly disagreed with Labour over the foreshore and seabed legislation and resigned from the party. Other members of Parliament have disagreed with their parties\u2019 policies, and done so publicly. Those M\u0101ori members have a choice and I would say an obligation to disagree with the position they know to be against the interests of their own people. My challenge to Mita Ririnui and his colleagues is to recognise that they were M\u0101ori before they were parliamentarians, and they will still be M\u0101ori after Parliament has no further use for them. That is what should determine their position, not the politics of their party.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000377\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003ESomeone told me to start the year in the way I mean to carry on, and I challenge Labour\u2019s M\u0101ori MPs in the House today to step up to the line. We do not say that we have all the answers; we do not. Yesterday, Tariana Turia\u2019s message was of a strong and positive vision for our future, and we share that future with anyone. But my message is a warning: we will no longer stand aside and let other people cripple our future. Tama t\u016B, tama ora, tama noho, tama mate, tama toa. T\u0113n\u0101 koe Mita Ririnui.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000378\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E[He who stands survives, he who sits perishes, he who is brave fights on. Greetings to you Mita Ririnui].\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022 data-id=\u002227ca81a87c8847ec9e93dc21399113db\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000379\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002227ca81a87c8847ec9e93dc21399113db\u0022\u003EHon MITA RIRINUI (Minister of State):\u003C/span\u003E Kai te Kaihaut\u016B t\u0113n\u0101 koe. Mihi ake ana ki a koe me te \u0101taahua hoki o t\u014D neketai. Hoi an\u014D r\u0101, huri mai ki t\u0113n\u0101 tangata n\u0101na ng\u0101 k\u014Drero i \u0113nei meniti tekau. Mihi atu ana ki a ia me tana m\u0101r\u014D ki te t\u016B i roto i te Whare nei ki te whakap\u0101oho i \u0101na k\u014Drero. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000380\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003E[Greetings to you, Mr Assistant Speaker. I acknowledge you and your beautiful necktie. Indeed I turn to that person who has been addressing us during these past 10 minutes, to acknowledge his contribution in this House, and his boldness.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000381\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003EPerhaps I should give my own interpretation. I congratulate you, Mr Assistant Speaker, on your choice of tie today. I also congratulate the previous speaker on his valiant attempt to demonstrate to this House that he is going to achieve something. He made it very clear that the M\u0101ori Party members are the only ones who talk about things. Well, I say that the M\u0101ori Labour caucus has a history of delivering things, and that is the record we stand by. Otir\u0101, koin\u0101 te k\u014Drero, k\u0101re te k\u016Bmara e k\u014Drero i t\u0101na reka.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000382\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003E[Indeed there is that saying: the sweet potato does not talk up its sweetness.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000383\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003EThe previous speaker brought up three important points that I want to respond to. I want to thank him because previously I had decided to talk about something else, but he has shifted my focus and just as well. I can give the member a guarantee that Judge Williams will not be replaced on the Waitangi Tribunal\u2014in fact, I saw a document, signed by the Minister of M\u0101ori Affairs, 2 weeks ago confirming that. I think the member has been misinformed. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000384\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003EThe second, and very important, matter\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000385\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227883c85e-a5bb-4a12-9962-80df55af0ecd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221e6323a2df844035b7442c4a20b91465\u0022\u003EHone Harawira\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I did not say that Judge Williams would be replaced as the chief judge of the Waitangi Tribunal. I said that he would be replaced as Chief Judge of the M\u0101ori Land Court.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000386\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022eb65db3a42c24d4ca4013dfc991b4e40\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: The member will be seated. The member should look at Speaker\u2019s ruling 36/4 covering misrepresentation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000387\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022100a5bc3b9604b2387533b871d7ee266\u0022\u003EHon MITA RIRINUI\u003C/span\u003E: The second matter I want to talk about is the member\u2019s assertion that this Labour-led Government intends to remove all Treaty references from legislation. I can tell the member that there is absolutely no intention to do that. In fact, there is still an ongoing commitment to ensure that the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles are recognised in legislation. But I do share his concern about that particular matter, because it has become a political sore point with the Opposition during the 6 years that I have been in this House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000388\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003EI also issue a challenge to that member. I distinctly recall that when I was at R\u0101tana this year\u2014and the member was there when his party arrived\u2014his co-leader stood and made a statement about those principles. He said: \u201CK\u0101re au i te whakaae kia whakaurua atu te mana o te Tiriti ki roto i ng\u0101 ture katoa.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000389\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003E[\u201CI am not in favour of the Treaty\u2019s mana being included in all laws.\u201D] \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000390\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003EThe member\u2019s own co-leader does not agree that the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi should be included in legislation. I wonder why there is such a difference of opinion between those two members, or perhaps I misunderstood the co-leader. If I did, I apologise, but I do not think I did misunderstand him. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000391\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003EThe member raised another important matter, and it concerns prisons. I have spent some time in the Department of Corrections, and I have some concerns about the way and the manner in which the department conducts its business today. I congratulate the Minister of Corrections, Damien O\u2019Connor, on making the bold move and making the statement publicly that changes are needed. The Minister talked about offenders who are a low risk to society. He was not talking about violent offenders. He was not talking about home invaders. He was not talking about abusers and dangerous offenders. He was talking about low-risk offenders. There are a number of reasons why people should be imprisoned.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000392\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003EThe Minister was generous when he said that 30 percent of inmates serve fewer than 6 months. In fact, 30 percent of inmates serve fewer than 11 weeks. We have to ask ourselves: are we are building prisons to lock people away for 11 weeks? I do not think so. I do not think the 1999 referendum on zero tolerance on crime said that to us, but we\u2014particularly the Opposition\u2014seem to have accepted that we are going to lock everybody up. We are saying that some changes need to be made. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000393\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003EI said that there are a number of ways in which a person can wind up in prison. A person can appear in court on an offence that does not carry a prison term, and he or she might receive a fine or community service, or maybe something a bit stronger. A person\u2019s ability to serve that sentence, to pay the fine, or to do community service or periodic detention depends on the person\u2019s circumstances\u2014whether the person can afford to pay the fine, whether the person has the time to go out into the community and do community service, whether the person has the weekend available to do periodic detention. A minor crime has been committed, and we must always remember that, but if the person is not able to meet the court\u2019s instructions, that person could end up in prison. In the end, a breach of court orders could eventuate in a prison sentence. Those are the people we are talking about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000394\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003EAs the previous speaker said, many of those people are M\u0101ori who cannot pay an enormous fine. But there are other ways of dealing with these matters, and that is what we as a Government are looking at\u2014alternatives to imprisonment. So the question has to be asked about the role of the Community Probation Service. Is it advising the courts accordingly so that judges can make the appropriate decisions on minor offences, or is it not? There is a whole issue around the role of that service.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000395\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003E I want to talk about all the achievements of this Government since it came into Government 6 years ago. I agree with previous speakers who said that 7.5 percent M\u0101ori unemployment is not good and that it could be better, but it is a helluva lot better than 20 percent, which is what it was when we came into Government. Something like 40,000 more M\u0101ori are now in work. The rate of M\u0101ori unemployment has dropped by more than 74,000. Many M\u0101ori are now involved in tertiary studies. Regardless of the problems experienced with Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa last year, at a bad time for us, by and large there have been results. The business of the w\u0101nanga in providing tertiary education to M\u0101ori and others continues in a meaningful way. The focus of this Government\u2019s policy has always been to ensure that M\u0101ori have access to tertiary studies, and that remains our policy. Unfortunately for the previous chief executive officer, that has not been a very good experience. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000396\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003EI want to touch on the Prime Minister\u2019s speech, as well. The points she made were quite straightforward\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000397\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002263776108-58dc-4cab-baf1-95282c61d0de\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002220eb6f7e13884e23a3fe1b6121df64dd\u0022\u003EPaula Bennett\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, we missed it! \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000398\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a40d01c94c3e4f03a27164dfb991c0cb\u0022\u003EHon MITA RIRINUI\u003C/span\u003E: I am sure those members opposite do not agree, but then again they have just arrived here. They are back-benchers in the National Party. Its front-benchers have been sitting in Opposition for 6 years, and by the time they draw breath again they will have been there for 9 years. Prior to that they were in Government for 9 long years, which was the worst experience New Zealanders have ever had. That Government implemented harsher policies than any other Government has. I hear that National back-bench member desperately trying to interject, unsuccessfully. She needs to take a look at the track record of her own party. It is not something one would go around boasting about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000399\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003EI come back to the main points in the Prime Minister\u2019s speech. She talked about growing the economy. Confidence in this country is high. Regardless of the criticisms that come from Opposition members, business confidence is high. Businesses accept their ups and downs. [Interruption] Has the member been in business? She should not talk until she has. Most M\u0101ori in this House run a business of some sort, so if members want to know about business they should talk to us. We will tell them about it. We will tell them about being on the disadvantaged end of the business scale and working through all the issues. Seventy-four percent of M\u0101ori businesses are successful. The average statistic for people who are in small to medium business is that their businesses do not last 5 years. That is not the case for M\u0101ori in business. They go on and on. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000400\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002263776108-58dc-4cab-baf1-95282c61d0de\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002294b7acb41da346cdb45400d9620866a7\u0022\u003EPaula Bennett\u003C/span\u003E: What about River Queen, the movie?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000401\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224c8abf12fa464941ace33a51a00539e9\u0022\u003EHon MITA RIRINUI\u003C/span\u003E: I saw the shorts of the movie. I did not think much of it, really. I sympathise with Tariana Turia. Her tupuna was depicted in that movie, and the person playing the part was my whanaunga. We have an issue with that. T\u012Btokowaru is the person she was talking about, the great prophet, the great leader of the M\u0101ori cause from up the Whanganui River\u2014and the member talks about River Queen! Give me a break\u2014drag queen! \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000402\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003ETo get back to Labour\u2019s achievements in Government highlighted in the Prime Minister\u2019s speech, the economy has been very strong, and unemployment has come down. Social services and tertiary education were highlighted. M\u0101ori health is on a positive climb, there is no doubt about that. Over 480,000 M\u0101ori are now enrolled in primary health organisations. That has to be good news. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000403\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002273f60731-048d-4a21-81c5-52d588de2325\u0022\u003ESo I ask members opposite when they are going to stop running down their country. When will you acknowledge the successes of the last 6 years? When will you accept that every poll on leadership in the last 6 years has put Helen Clark way up top?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223c54363866ed4cce842f87a861549020\u0022\u003EThe CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Please do not bring the Speaker into the debate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022 data-id=\u0022299f717d471a4da7abb42156b431b2fc\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000405\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022299f717d471a4da7abb42156b431b2fc\u0022\u003EHon MURRAY McCULLY (National\u2014East Coast Bays):\u003C/span\u003E I have listened to this debate with some amusement as various members of the Labour Party have done what they were instructed to do by the Government whips and attempted to run some interference by pretending that the Labour Party\u2019s serious overspending on the eve of the election last year was somehow part of a game of tit for tat\u2014a game where everybody has been playing fast and loose with the rules. I thought I would take this opportunity today to make clear just what the issue is, because it is not about whether there has been a game of tit for tat\u2014a practice on all sides of breaching the rules. The question is really about whether the Prime Minister of our country, having been fully advised of the consequences of her actions, wantonly and deliberately broke the electoral law of New Zealand\u2014the law that is responsible for ensuring the proper conduct of elections in this country\u2014on the eve of a general election. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000406\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022\u003EI am the first to accept that there has been some looseness over the years in the practice of using Parliamentary Service funding for promotion. In my time in this place I have seen some practices that I certainly disapprove of, but I will say that I have never seen a tighter line on adherence to the rules than we see today under the current leader of the National Party, Dr Brash. However, that is not what this is about. This is not about the Parliamentary Service Commission rules; it is about the Electoral Act of New Zealand, a cornerstone of New Zealand\u2019s constitution. The Electoral Act is one of the pieces of legislation that guarantees that when New Zealanders go out to the ballot box they are able to elect a Government in a way that will deserve the respect of all New Zealanders. To play fast and loose with that part of our constitutional fabric is a despicable thing for any politician to do, but it is a particularly despicable thing for the Prime Minister of our country to do. There are many, many unanswered questions, and those questions will be nailed down and answered in the weeks ahead. The longer the Prime Minister tries to drag the process out the longer and more hurtful the agony will be, because this Opposition will not let that Prime Minister off the hook on this matter. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000407\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022\u003EI want to give to the House today a little history on this matter, because in some ways I was the instigator of the process that caused the Auditor-General\u2019s report. It goes back to the Labour Party\u2019s decision to spend over $20 million of hard-earned taxpayers\u2019 money to promote the Labour Party\u2019s interest in the so-called Working for Families Budget arrangement. I could see from the brief inspection of what was proposed that there was no way that it would pass the smell test. I took it to the Auditor-General. The Auditor-General decided not only that it did not pass the smell test but that he would do a little more about it, as well. The first thing he did was to put the officials and the Ministers through the mincer, and they carved off over $5 million of what was proposed to be spent. I guess one could say that the Opposition parties in Parliament earned their pay that day. Six to seven million dollars was carved off what the Labour Party was going to spend. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000408\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022\u003EBut then the Auditor-General could see that he was headed for much, much bigger trouble unless he took some further steps, so he instituted a wider inquiry into the spending of parliamentary funds, particularly focused around the leaders\u2019 budgets\u2014the area from which Helen Clark has been funding her bus stop billboards with slogans, such as \u201CYou\u2019re better off with Labour\u201D, which is the sort of expenditure of taxpayers\u2019 money on party political advertising that I think most New Zealanders would deplore. The Auditor-General sought submissions from all political parties, brought together the information, and produced a report. He could see that we were headed for real trouble unless we could try to get the two major political parties to agree on some reforms that would protect the integrity of the process. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000409\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022\u003ESo he wrote to the Prime Minister and Dr Brash and told them that they needed to show some leadership. He invited them to meet with him so he could share the report with them and, hopefully, get their cooperation on a process of reform. Dr Brash said that was fine and he accepted his obligations as the Leader of the Opposition to try to ensure that the show was tidied up. Helen Clark said no. She said she would not meet the Auditor-General of New Zealand to discuss a report that was designed to tidy up the expenditure of taxpayers\u2019 money on party political advertising. Can members believe it? There is one person in this country\u2014one person above all others\u2014whom the Auditor-General was entitled to look to and expect support from in his cause of tidying up the expenditure of taxpayers\u2019 money. That person was the Prime Minister, and that person let him down. That person would not even meet the Auditor-General. The Prime Minister let herself down, she let this Parliament down, and she let all New Zealanders down.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000410\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002255e8bfb0d8304c9a8d7a71192850d968\u0022\u003EHon David Cunliffe\u003C/span\u003E: You can\u2019t say that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000411\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022279520fdc77b49d387b2fccda0b3d1db\u0022\u003EHon MURRAY McCULLY\u003C/span\u003E: Well, Mr Cunliffe has read from his research notes on this matter, but I want him to reflect on this. He should go and talk to his constituents in West Auckland, if he ever visits them, and ask them how they feel about their hard-earned taxpayers\u2019 dollars being spent putting pictures of Helen Clark\u2014after they have been suitably modified, of course\u2014on bus stops around New Zealand and on credit cards that can be distributed to members of the New Zealand public at great cost. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000412\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022\u003EThe Auditor-General, having been rebuffed by the Prime Minister, was mystified. He had to cancel his meeting with Dr Brash and put the report around the other political parties to see what they would make of it. It was an extraordinary set of circumstances. So we thought that there must be some reason why the Prime Minister was feeling so guilty about all of that, but we did not know what it was. Now we do; now we know that as the Auditor-General was knocking on her door she was planning in detail the spending of half a million dollars of taxpayers\u2019 money on something that was far more dodgy than the things the Auditor-General had already identified to talk to her about. She was already planning to spend half a million dollars of taxpayers\u2019 money on the Labour Party\u2019s credit card promotions for the election campaign. That is why she would not meet the Auditor-General. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000413\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022\u003EThe question that then arises is whether she proceeded to spend that money knowing not only that the Auditor-General disapproved, and that the Auditor-General knew that stuff was outside the proper arrangements, but also that it was going to tip the Labour Party over the top of the limits prescribed in the Electoral Act. That is the question we do not yet know the answer to, but I suspect we can make an assumption. Mr David Henry, the Chief Electoral Officer, had a complaint about this stuff drawn to his attention. We know that there was a flurry of officials\u2019 meetings within the Prime Minister\u2019s office. We know that some people knew that the Labour Party, in spending that half a million dollars, would go over its lawful limit. The question this House is entitled to a straight answer to from the Prime Minister is: did she play a part in sanctioning the spending of that half a million dollars, which we now know to have been unlawful in terms of the Electoral Act\u2014unlawful because it posed a threat to the arrangements by which we guarantee democratic and fair elections in this country? I tell the Prime Minister that she must come to the House and give us a straight answer. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000414\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022\u003EI want to know who else was in on this. We know Heather Simpson was in on it; she was in it up to her little eyeballs. We know that Trevor Mallard was in it up to his eyeballs. I want to know who else in the Labour Party Cabinet was in this up to his or her eyeballs. I want to know who else in the Labour Party was involved. I will be asking the Speaker in due course, because anybody close to the Speaker\u2019s office who was involved in knowledge of the Labour Party\u2019s election campaign clearly has a conflict in ruling on the matters that are before the Privileges Committee process as it arrives, and before the Parliamentary Service Commission. So it is declaration time for all of those involved. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000415\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00225192f6d3-dca6-43c8-a55e-381e1d7c1225\u0022\u003EI ask the Prime Minister to come to the House, front up, and take her medicine. She should own up to Parliament whether she knowingly, as Prime Minister of this country, not only rebuffed the officer who was responsible for ensuring there was integrity about the expenditure of taxpayers\u2019 money, and not only spent money that was a rip-off of money from the taxpayers of New Zealand granted through the Parliamentary Service Commission, but also was a full, flagrant breach of the Electoral Act\u2014the arrangements by which we guarantee the integrity of our elections in this country. The Prime Minister owes New Zealanders a straight answer and this National Opposition will make sure they get it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022 data-id=\u00225b81ffdb3ec6406191afe425a9fdbd1b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000416\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00225b81ffdb3ec6406191afe425a9fdbd1b\u0022\u003ESUE MORONEY (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E As a new member in this House, it has been enlightening to listen to the leadership speeches and the reactions to those speeches. In my own maiden speech, I said that I have come here to improve people\u2019s lives. I am really pleased to report that already there has been legislation before this House that does just that. For example, we have started to discuss paid parental leave for self-employed people, and that will improve people\u2019s lives. It is good, practical legislation that will actually make a difference. It will give financial stability for self-employed people when they are about to become parents, and it will enable the employment of replacement staff where that is appropriate. But most important, it will allow those parents to have that precious time with the precious new person in their lives. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000417\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EWe have also been discussing legislation to enable the Working for Families package to be brought forward, and that will make a real and practical difference for those people who need it. We have also been discussing interest-free student loans, and the people from the Opposition side of the House, who probably had their education without paying for it at all, at taxpayers\u2019 expense\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000418\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227d832db5da0c4f40b32f6de895652d4f\u0022\u003EHon Tau Henare\u003C/span\u003E: Who paid for yours? Oh, the union; that\u2019s right.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000419\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220f857d92324e40538bcd2e6d75e53b30\u0022\u003ESUE MORONEY\u003C/span\u003E: No, I had State-funded education\u2014as it should be\u2014through to high school level, thank you very much, and I appreciated it. So I therefore vote for interest-free student loans, because that removes the barriers for people so that they can improve their knowledge and skills\u2014the knowledge and skills that are so important to the future of New Zealand. The Opposition members do not seem to be able to understand that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000420\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EAlready we are on the path to bringing forward the Prime Minister\u2019s three key areas that she spoke of in her speech yesterday: economic transformation for this country, looking after families, young and old, and ensuring that we maintain our unique national identity. New Zealanders know that Labour under Helen Clark will deliver what it sets out to do, because we have been able to prove that over the last 6 years. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000421\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EI now go on to Dr Brash\u2019s speech. I was looking forward to that speech very much, because I was wondering why the National Party is in so much turmoil over a leadership debate. Even I, as a new member of Parliament, know that that is fatal. It is fatal for a party to be engaging in that sort of debate in this part of the political process. So why is the National Party embroiled in a leadership debate? I was looking for Dr Brash\u2019s speech to give me some clues about that. Well, it did. I discovered that not long after Dr Brash started his speech, my mind wandered. As an adult educator, I knew that that was my very first clue. People\u2019s minds wander when they are not engaged in what they are being told. When the speaker has a lack of content to focus on, that is when minds start to wander. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000422\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EWhere did my mind wander to during that experience? Well, it wandered over to the Opposition side of the House. I wondered what would it be like to be a National back-bencher, listening to that speech from my leader. Suddenly it dawned on me. I realised why there is a leadership debate going on in the National Party. It was embarrassing. I found that I agreed with Deborah Coddington, probably for the first time in my life, when she said on Newstalk ZB that Dr Brash does have to get his performance up in the House. She said it was actually quite embarrassing to watch him at work in the House. That was how I felt yesterday, when I put myself in the shoes of a National Party back-bencher. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000423\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EHowever, it is not the first time that I have felt thankful not to be a back-bencher for the National Party. How embarrassing it must be to have to go out and face the electorate, talking about how we need to spend more money on our roads, when one\u2019s own party\u2014the National Party\u2014was proposing tax cuts, which would give us less money to spend on roads. How it must do a member\u2019s credibility in, as a National MP, to be talking about how more money needs to be spent on health, and how more money needs to go into aged care, when knowing all the while that one\u2019s own party was planning tax cuts, if the New Zealand public would let it do so. That would mean there would be less money spent in the aged-care area. It would mean that we could not go forward in our health and education areas. And what about the credibility of having to go out as a National Party MP and try to feign some real concern about people on low wages in New Zealand, at the very time that one was going around arguing against the increases that Labour has brought in to the minimum wage? How that must undermine one\u2019s credibility. As a National Party MP, one would be reduced to talking one\u2019s country down, for goodness\u2019 sake! \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000424\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EIt was time to tune back into the speech after my mind had wandered for a little while, thinking about what it must be like to be a National Party back-bench MP and how that would feel. When I did tune back into Dr Brash\u2019s speech, I wondered whether he lives in the same country that I live in. There he was, talking down this country\u2019s progress, despite all the evidence to the contrary and despite all the data showing otherwise. I was not sure which country he was actually referring to. Maybe he just went into a time warp\u2014that would be a change from a flip-flop\u2014and was talking about the New Zealand of the 1990s. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000425\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EI remember that the 1990s were a dim, dark era. I remember the communities that I lived near to, such as Cambridge, Morrinsville, and Matamata, hunkering down during the 1990s and trying to hold on to what they had, because that was all that communities could do. They could not plan for progress. During the 1990s those rural communities were going backwards, and all they could do was to hold on to what they had. Those communities in the 1990s under National were like beaten dogs, staying in the corner and not willing to come out unless they were beaten again. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000426\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EIt took a while under a Labour Government, and under progress and growth, for those communities to adjust. We are only now getting new housing subdivisions agreed to in those communities, because it has taken so long for them to think about planning for growth rather than just hunkering down and asking National not to beat them any more. If one couples those thriving communities in the rural area now with the growth in employment under Labour and the economic growth, one can see that growth is getting out to every corner in New Zealand. That is the type of economic recovery that this country has enjoyed. I shudder to think what this House would be considering now, if New Zealand voters were not as smart as they are. We would have the prospect of Dr Brash flip-flopping around on the international stage, representing us\u2014how embarrassing! Fortunately, New Zealand voters are smart. The National Party strategists got it wrong. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000427\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EEarlier, the Hon Paul Swain was talking about Desperate Housewives, but I cannot think about the last election campaign without thinking about The Simpsons. I imagine the debrief about what went wrong for the National Party actually happening in a nuclear power plant in Springfield. In the debrief between Montgomery Burns and his sidekick, Smithers, they are wondering what went wrong with the National Party campaign. Montgomery Burns is saying to Smithers: \u201CWe threw everything at them. We appealed to greed with the tax cuts. We tried to set them against each other with the race card. We even got religious extremists to go out and do our dirty work for us. What went wrong, Smithers? What went wrong?\u201D. And Smithers is replying, after thinking about it for a while: \u201CWell, Mr Burns, sir, we got it wrong because we thought New Zealand voters thought like Homer Simpson. In fact, what we\u2019ve discovered is that they have morals like Marge Simpson.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000428\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003EAnd thank goodness that at that point, Dr Brash\u2019s speech finished. My mind stopped wandering because there was some muted clapping going on, in a pretence of adoration towards the leader\u2019s great speech. My mind snapped back to the present time, and it was like waking up from a bad dream. I had a sense of relief that I was not a National Party back-bencher; I was a Labour back-bencher. And it was like, after having a nightmare, waking up and thinking: \u201CThank goodness that was just a bad dream.\u201D The reality is that I am a Labour MP. Thank goodness for that, because Labour is growing the economy, there is the lowest unemployment in the Western World, and we are investing in health, education, and policing. We are promoting our culture and identity, we are protecting our environment, and we are maintaining our nuclear-free stance and status and our principled foreign policy. Thank goodness that I am a back-bencher for the Labour Party.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022 data-id=\u0022eca3eb244e5d4748a06b6b18e92b8118\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000429\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022eca3eb244e5d4748a06b6b18e92b8118\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National\u2014Rodney):\u003C/span\u003E I was a little disappointed by that speech from the new Labour member Sue Moroney because the people of New Zealand have just become aware of probably the most serious corruption scandal in an election campaign\u2014certainly for the eight elections that I have been part of.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000430\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223f59aba8aa46488581dcfc487134fc41\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: I refer the member to Speaker\u2019s ruling 25/5, which is to do with allegations of corruption: \u201CIt is not only the right, but the duty, of a member who can show that there has been anything in the nature of bribery or corruption on the part of other members to bring that matter before the House in the proper constitutional way,\u201D. That is by notice of motion. But \u201Ca member must not make veiled suggestions during the course of debate.\u201D That was Speaker Statham in 1934. I ask the member to be very careful how he couches his debate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000431\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002292319d875d094427bb977f1887682966\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: I would have thought that the party is not part of this Parliament, as such. What we are referring to here is a scandalous practice, which is seen to be corrupt by the public of New Zealand, carried out by a political party. If members of this House are part of that party, maybe\u2014and that is what I would have expected from Sue Moroney\u2014they might have tried to explain to this Parliament how they and their party justify taking $440,000 of taxpayers\u2019 money that does not belong to their party and spending it on things like this pamphlet that I have here. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000432\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EThis particular copy arrived in my letterbox at home during the election campaign. It arrived during the last 2 weeks of the election campaign. Members should look at it; it is blatant campaigning. The photo makes one spew, does it not? I have been in this Parliament for 21 years with Helen Clark. In fact, she was at boarding school in Epsom just down the road from me when I was at Auckland Grammar, so I have known her for many years. I must say I had to look at the photo two or three times to be sure it was her. But when one does read that document, one can see it is blatant campaigning. I thought Sue Moroney might have given some explanation as to how she justifies taking taxpayers\u2019 money. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000433\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EI guess that the good people of Piako had a look at that member and of course they rejected her and voted in my good colleague Lindsay Tisch. It is the same for so many Labour Party members in this Parliament who were booted out by their electorates but are back here on Labour\u2019s scrawny party list. It is no wonder they have no future. I suppose the most scary thing about this scandal is that the Labour Party president, Mike Williams, said that it was all right, that they had done it before. I got the pledge card, although I am not sure which particular year it was from; it was one of the ones that Mike Williams claimed was paid for by taxpayers. But how would anyone know? No one on this side of the House ever dreamt that a party would so blatantly plunder the taxpayers\u2019 purse to fund something like this. There is no parliamentary crest on this pledge card to indicate that it might have been paid for. At least this shocking pamphlet has the parliamentary crest on it. That is how we knew that that one was paid for by the taxpayers. But this little pledge card has nothing to indicate that it was paid for by the taxpayer. Mike Williams has the temerity to suggest that this outrageous scandal arising from the last election is all OK, because they did it before and no one complained. No decent person, certainly not on this side of the House, would ever dream of plundering the public purse to pay for that pledge card. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000434\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EWe should not be surprised that good New Zealanders are fed up to their back teeth with this and are leaving the country in droves. Just look at the figures for the last 3 years. The net immigration figures hide all of this. They camouflage what is actually happening. I have looked at the figures. What are New Zealanders doing? We have New Zealanders who live in New Zealand, and New Zealanders who live offshore. Some New Zealanders who live offshore come back to New Zealand each year, and each year some New Zealanders leave New Zealand for more than a year to live overseas. The figures from these last 3 years are staggering. In 2003, 11,200 more New Zealanders left New Zealand to live overseas permanently than the number of New Zealanders who came back to New Zealand after living overseas. There were 11,200 in 2003. That figure went up in 2004, to 18,000; it went from 11,000 to 18,000 in 1 year. That is the net difference in the number of New Zealanders who went overseas permanently. Last year that figure leapt to 25,000. From 11,000 in 2003, in the last 3 years, under this disgraceful Labour Government that embezzles public funds, the number of New Zealanders who are bailing out has leapt to 25,000. That will change the nature of New Zealand society hugely. All those people are being replaced, of course. Last year our net immigration position was 7,000-plus. So we have replaced those 25,000 New Zealanders who went overseas permanently with 32,000 new immigrants who came to this country. Many of them are good people. Most of them, I am sure, are good people. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000435\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b626842803034dd29e58af68f37f064f\u0022\u003EHon David Cunliffe\u003C/span\u003E: Just not mainstream, aye?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000436\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002206fa37b205f149e2835049dbbae4e2f8\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: David Cunliffe may not think these things matter, but it will change the nature of our society. Labour, of course, believes in that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000437\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EAnother thing I will talk about today is the advertisement that has been appearing in newspapers in the last few weeks about Working for Families. This package will also change the nature of New Zealand society hugely. It is a real talking point around town these days. People have looked at this ad and come up to me and asked whether it means that a parliamentarian can apply for a benefit under the Working for Families package. It is true. If we look at Labour\u2019s\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000438\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b2567d3e-a09c-47b4-bd50-2f5bb4049762\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228aa363d73afa45a2b7e6f8a5751a8c01\u0022\u003ESue Moroney\u003C/span\u003E: How many things have you got?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000439\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ec5be8e7af2f4dbd9abe376df631bc15\u0022\u003EDr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: Sue Moroney may not believe this, but the figures are in this ad. Let us say that the spouse of one of the members of this Parliament is not working. The parliamentary salary is, what, $122,000 for a back-bencher? If a member had five or more dependent children, he or she could apply for a benefit under Labour\u2019s Working for Families package. New Zealand has to be the first country in the developed world, I would think, where the Government says that parliamentarians can apply for benefits. That is stark, staring madness! Since when in the developed world has a Government said that parliamentarians should be able to apply for benefits under their country\u2019s welfare system? It is shocking. But it gets worse. I said that this will change the nature of our society, and it will, because what this package does to our low-income families matters so much. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000440\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ac169d29-4849-42c2-a4a7-f344fd416503\u0022\u003EPeople on lower incomes try to get ahead. People are trying to get off benefits. Let us take a person who is on the domestic purposes benefit. He or she may try to get off the benefit and start working. Let us say, for argument\u2019s sake, that the person is not skilled and is working for only $10 an hour. The person may have no skills and gets a job paying $10 an hour. After that person has worked for 10 hours, he or she will have earned $100 for the week, or $5,000 for the year. From that point on, until that person works 40 hours, this Government takes 92c out of every extra dollar he or she earns. Under this great Working for Families package\u2014and I am using the Inland Revenue Department\u2019s own figures\u2014after working 10 hours a week, a woman who may be trying to get off the domestic purposes benefit, earning only $10 an hour, trying to do something for her children so they have a better future, will have taken from her by David Cunliffe\u2019s and Sue Moroney\u2019s party 92c in every extra dollar she earns until she works 40 hours a week. For every 10 to 40 hours a week of work, the Government will leave her with 8c\u2014actually, not quite, I tell a lie. It will leave her with 7.8c out of every extra dollar she earns. This Government is destroying the great New Zealand society with dopey policies like that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022 data-id=\u0022a31b739fa64345fc8504c3c56f58d753\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000441\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a31b739fa64345fc8504c3c56f58d753\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Immigration):\u003C/span\u003E What is worse: being yelled at by the member who has just resumed his seat, Lockwood Smith, or being smiled at by Murray McCully, the prince of darkness? Is Murray McCully backing John Key? Is he backing Don Brash? Is he backing somebody else? Let us just stop and think a little bit about the \u201CMurray mojo\u201D. The \u201CMurray mojo\u201D is very, very simple. When one does not have a scandal, one creates one; when one does not have substance, one spreads rumour; and when one thinks another party is saying something substantive, one talks about process. So we and the public were subjected to a rant about pledge cards. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003EThe irony of that will not be lost on people, because they know that it was the National Party\u2014Murray McCully\u2019s party\u2014that forgot about the GST on its television spend. It just forgot about a million dollars or so. National members said: \u201COh gosh, was it exclusive? I thought it was inclusive. Oh, I\u2019m terribly sorry.\u201D What is worse: forgetting one\u2019s GST\u2014for which, if one is in business, one could go to prison for\u2014or following the same standard procedures on a parliamentary publication that one has followed for the last two elections? You have a crest and a party logo. In good faith, your head office thinks it meets the requirements of standard parliamentary publications. So in good faith you carry on in the way you always have, in an area where, admittedly, the law is somewhat unclear. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000443\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221b77b6632c514a70bbe84d99dea81a9e\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. You may not be tuned into the member\u2019s contribution, but I think that, leading into a third term as the member is, it would be appropriate for him not to continually bring you into the debate during the course of his contribution. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000444\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228ac42eaf11ec4b298cf8b68c8d3b1d48\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: I thank the member for that. The member knows about the use of the word \u201Cyou\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000445\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d196b9650b444fca9e444e5d2de3c0a8\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CUNLIFFE\u003C/span\u003E: I thank the member for the reminder. Despite my esteem for the Speaker, I shall leave him out. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000446\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003EWhat is clear is that the \u201CMcCully mojo\u201D is at work. One should create a sense of scandal and drip-feed information even when one does not have any. Why? Because National members are covering their own behind. They are covering their own spend and, more important, they are covering the fact that Don cannot do angry. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000447\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002238cce83c0ebc48ad9c7143e70ca91e35\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000448\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225f45d9b7992b47a1b636666857d00d58\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, I know what the member is going to say.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000449\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002277a21c7c0161400fa6e7e6e59996d127\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: How do you know what I am going to say?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000450\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e95c5b0a99324b308b2ad062335d0253\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Because I am tuned in. I just say to the member on my right that under Speakers\u2019 rulings 26/6 and 26/7, a member cannot use a nickname or a first name. A speaker must use the member\u2019s full name or his or her title. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000451\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227d688947c15e43989480e57897f69e09\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CUNLIFFE\u003C/span\u003E: Dr Donald Brash does not do angry. He gave an embarrassing speech in the House yesterday that has the media consistently saying that he is gone or is going. What they do not know is who Murray McCully will back. We would all love to know that. The worst thing is that if he does not turn up at someone\u2019s office party, that person knows that he or she is gone. So Dr Brash is looking a bit stressed. He is looking a bit worried. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000452\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ae064243062347f1b5851fb03dc2ac75\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: What does he say about the pinstripe jailer?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000453\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224e536452e04645f799d99e373089ea9c\u0022\u003EHon DAVID CUNLIFFE\u003C/span\u003E: The pinstripe jailer and the prince of darkness\u2014what a team National has. So that is the \u201CMcCully mojo\u201D. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000454\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003EThen we were served up the treat of Lockwood Smith in high dander. He regaled the fact that New Zealanders leave to go overseas. Well, the great Kiwi OE is a time-honoured tradition. The numbers vary from year to year\u2014they go up sometimes as the business cycle dips, and they go down sometimes. We know year from year that about three-quarters of all young New Zealanders who travel come home. They always have and always will. They see the world and most come home. Yes, we will lose some because, quite rightly, they will get great jobs overseas and will become part of the Kiwi expat network. That is fine. Yes, we will import skills. The role of the immigration programme is determinedly to import the best skills we can and to leave New Zealand the richer for the exchange. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000455\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003E But where Lockwood Smith crossed the line was in saying that these new people are not like us. What did he mean by that? Did he mean that they might change New Zealand, or speak a foreign language? Goodness, no! Might they be of a different culture? Oh, my goodness! Might they be of a different religion or a different skin colour? How would we cope with Asian people, Polynesian people, or European people running around in our cities? To quote Dr Smith, they might \u201Cchange the nature of New Zealand\u201D. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000456\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003EWell, look, I come from an electorate where one person in three was not born in New Zealand, and I am proud of New Lynn. Every year we have the New Lynn festival of cultures, where Buddhists, Muslims, Baha\u2019is, Christians, atheists, Sri Lankans, Indians, Chinese, and Pacific Islanders all get together. They have a huge party, and thousands of people come. They dress up in their traditional costumes, they cook their traditional feasts, and they put on their traditional songs and dances. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000457\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003EWe can do that in New Zealand, because we are a peaceful, tolerant, multicultural country, and I will fight to keep that. I stand for that. We stand for that. We stand for a New Zealand that has a heart big enough for every New Zealander, whether that person is a sixth-generation Tory or a first-generation migrant. We have a heart big enough for all New Zealanders, and we are building a proud, young Asian-Pacific New Zealand that is unique, is going places, and is a premium destination for migration. That is our future. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000458\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e0192ed9-5715-4f6c-bd52-8db4f3466087\u0022\u003ENational represents the past; Labour represents the future. That is why National members will stay on that side of the House, and we will stay here. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022 data-id=\u00221fe9800e52644b479d73d1bcf75f421d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000459\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221fe9800e52644b479d73d1bcf75f421d\u0022\u003EHon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (National\u2014Pakuranga):\u003C/span\u003E I thank my whips for giving me a slot during the drive time session in Auckland, because my adoring drive time audience always love to listen to me. I have pointed out to the whips that they could give me a slot at any time up to about 10 o\u2019clock at night and it would still be broadcast to my adoring drive time audience in Auckland, because they would still be trying to find their way home. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000460\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003EI want to play a little quiz with the House tonight, with some questions. They go along this line: who said the following? This is a quote from Hansard: \u201CThat is inevitable, as he leans back in that wonderful lazy pose we have all got so used to. He is a man of no fixed principles and of economic ignorance, who entered this coalition in a sort of economic frame of mind that was roughly out of X Files and now has ended up as a sort of pin-up boy for the Reuters screen.\u201D Who said that? Well, I will table it later. It was Dr Michael Cullen, talking about Winston Peters. That is what Dr Michael Cullen said about Winston Peters\u2014but it gets better. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000461\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003EI will do another test. This is a different person. Here is a better one. Who said this? \u201CThat is a very smart thing to be said by somebody who is involved in, for example, selling Government Print for $8 million when it was worth $46 million. That is all very well to be said by someone who causes me as Treasurer, and my colleagues, to have to confront a contingency of possibly over $400 million, because he simply does not understand a thing about business. The lecturer from the University of Otago has the temerity to think that because Dougie Myers sent him off overseas to get a lesson on economics at his expense, that the member is now an expert. He is an economic illiterate and a joke. He will never understand economics because, like one of his predecessors, Mr Caygill, he has no experience of running anything except a Canterbury University tuck-shop. That is their level of experience \u2026\u201D. He is a total and absolute economic illiterate. Who said that? Winston Peters said that about Michael Cullen\u2014\u201CHe will never understand economics \u2026\u201D and \u201CHe is an economic illiterate \u2026\u201D. Mr Peters actually said something else, which I probably think I would be in trouble for quoting. But he said that Dr Cullen was an absolute economic illiterate, without any practical experience and any literacy experience. So that is what they said. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000462\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003EI have plenty of others about integrity, and here is a great one\u2014this is great. This is Winston Peters speaking on the Electoral Integrity Act\u2014these quotes are all from Hansard, but I will table them if people want to read them: \u201CThere is not one of my colleagues who 10 years ago could have supported this bill. There is not one of my colleagues who 5 years ago, like me, could have supported this bill. But we sure can now, and I tell members why. It is the experience\u2014the bitter experience of betrayal; this venal stink and stench of people who offer preferment and the baubles of office to people to change their political loyalties.\u201D How about that! That is a Winston Peters quote, but then he went to Rotorua during the campaign and said that New Zealand First would not go into Government with either major party, and that they did not want the baubles of office. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000463\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003ENow, there is one thing I agree with Winston Peters on\u2014there are not many, but there is one I agree on\u2014that is, we need a much better, in-depth, investigative journalist fraternity. As he quite rightly points out, they let lots of things go, and they miss them. I have transcripts from radio interviews and I listen to them with great interest; that is what having a bit of institutional memory does to help us. For example, Mr Peters claimed over and over again that when he was a Minister back then in the National Government and so on, he never took the baubles of office: \u201CI never had a ministerial house. I never had a ministerial car.\u201D Well, I heard that the first time and I thought: \u201CGood God, that\u2019s unbelievable.\u201D, because I got his car when he got the sack. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000464\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003EI was moved into Cabinet when Winston got the sack, and Bolger said that I was taking his Ford Falcon. So I checked parliamentary questions and there is a question to Paul East, who was in charge of Ministerial Services, asking which Ministers had what car, and when. It said that on 8 February a Ford Falcon GL station wagon was allocated to Winston Peters. Goodness me, he said he never took a car when he was a Minister, but there is the Hansard record saying that he did. That is the venal stench of betrayal for the baubles, and now there is a bit of sophistry that members will all love. He also said that he never took the fancy ministerial house. Well, he is right. But here is a headline from the Evening Post: \u201CWinston Peters coy about his plush hotel lifestyle\u201D. Interestingly, that was written by a man who back then on 8 October 1991 was the political editor of the Evening Post, a guy called Roger Foley. He went on to be Winston\u2019s press secretary some time later. But members should listen to what the article says: \u201CFormer M\u0101ori Affairs Minister Winston Peters is being coy about whether he will continue to live in his plush Plaza International suite, which was paid for by the State while he was a Minister.\u201D So, yes, he did not take a house like other Ministers\u2014and some of us lived in some pretty cruddy old houses that were broken-down and desperately needed maintenance\u2014but we did not go to a plush suite at the Plaza International. Winston Peters is right. Where is the investigative journalist who checked all that? Did he take the car? Did he take the house? No, he did not take the house; he took the hotel suite. And it goes on: \u201CHotel suite offers Winston deal\u201D. The Minister said that he was able to stay on at the Plaza International at a special rate. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000465\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003EHere is a classic. I thought there was something more to this, but maybe not: \u201CMinister proves not one to panic\u201D. That is from the New Zealand Herald on 15 May 1991. \u201CThe Minister of M\u0101ori Affairs says he stayed behind in the Plaza hotel when all the other guests went out to the street when a fire broke out. Sleepy guests were mustered outside the Plaza hotel after a smoker accidentally set a bed alight and generated a thick, black smoke. One fireman said Mr Peters had just got out of the shower when the fire officer knocked on his door and asked him to leave, to which the Minister replied: \u2018Do I really have to?\u2019. Mr Peters stayed on while all other guests left the hotel.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000466\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003ENow, I do not know whether that has anything to do with integrity or whatever, but I say to Mr Peters: \u201CWhen you say that you didn\u2019t take the car, I got your car, sir. I drove it after you\u2014a brown Ford Falcon\u2014so, yes, you did. And when you say you didn\u2019t get the house\u2014the baubles of office, so to speak\u2014no, you didn\u2019t; you got the suite at the Plaza International.\u201D We would all love that. Would we not all love to have our own suite at the Plaza International? So I say to Mr Peters that he is dead right. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000467\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003ERichard Prebble was actually on to it a bit. He was reported in Hansard on 8 May talking about Mr Peters swanning around in the Plaza International. It is quite good. It is in Hansard on 8 May 1991, and Richard Prebble was on to it. But I have to agree that Mr Peters is dead right. There is no investigative journalism in this country, because if journalists had listened to all the stuff we have heard since the \u201Cbetrayal\u201D, since the venal stench of \u201CWe won\u2019t be part of a Government; we don\u2019t want the baubles of office; we will sit on the cross benches and keep the major parties honest.\u201D, things would be reported differently.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003E That was the line we were fed. That was the line fed to the handful of people who voted for New Zealand First\u2014it was only a handful. [Interruption] Let me remind Mr Brian Donnelly that if it were not for a few hundred votes that got New Zealand First over the 5 percent line, none of them would be here, because Winston Peters lost his home base of Tauranga. Then he tried to take some frivolous lawsuit against our good man, Bob Clarkson, who won hands down, and I hope he wins hands down in getting the money back, because he is a very, very good man. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000469\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b960fcdd67254cba8cd209e95173b823\u0022\u003EHon Trevor Mallard\u003C/span\u003E: He couldn\u2019t quite work out where his left testicle was.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000470\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002205846e8809bc463082b87fb3427ac217\u0022\u003EHon MAURICE WILLIAMSON\u003C/span\u003E: I say to Mr Mallard that we will not discuss anatomy; we will not get into that sort of stuff. But I want to say that when Mr Peters gets up in the House and tears into the National Party about the things we do not do and do not stand for, and how bad we are, we should remember what the voters thought of New Zealand First. This once-proud party came to Parliament with 17 members in 1996; this once-proud party had five members in the Cabinet that I was in, and about three others outside Cabinet, including a very good member in the form of Brian Donnelly, who is in the House today, and who I still think is a good member. And now it is down to how many members? Is it six?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000471\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221a59d3ae-788b-4b19-b7dd-7d0e29a626fc\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223506d5bfd9294c588b10c4780f278d84\u0022\u003EHon Brian Donnelly\u003C/span\u003E: Seven.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000472\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a11ce4e-9fb3-4738-b0be-5a9f81d975da\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222f9d9aa545ad48afab25b62c0a8af0a3\u0022\u003EHon MAURICE WILLIAMSON\u003C/span\u003E: I am sorry to short change the New Zealand First party; it is down to seven members, and it came within a few hundred votes of going below the 5 percent threshold. Do members know why it got those few hundred votes and got over the line? I know a number of people who said: \u201CI like the claim that they will not be part of either party. I like the fact that Winston has clearly said\u2014and he is the only honest politician in Wellington; I know that because he told me\u2014they will not prop up either side.\u201D I know some people in my electorate who gave me their candidate vote but said they would give New Zealand First their party vote so they could keep the main parties honest. Those people are spewing blood now, because they read the Rotorua speech, they read the New Zealand Herald, they read the stories about the venal stench of betrayal, and they cannot believe that their man is more central to that than has ever been seen in this Parliament. So I say to Mr Peters that like the emails he claims are drip-feeding information about the National Party, I have so much more of this stuff in my files, and I will drip-feed it at the same rate that he does.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022 data-id=\u00220b437461f026480db27f2c90d7465402\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000473\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00220b437461f026480db27f2c90d7465402\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister for Economic Development):\u003C/span\u003E It is great that Maurice Williamson has spoken in the House today. He proved that he should be on the front bench. If he could only hold his tongue a little bit more and not leak information. Actually, he does not leak information from National\u2019s caucus\u2014he just tells everyone in a wonderful, open way, quite unlike Nick Smith and Bill English, who quietly sneak around the back and dump Gerry Brownlee in it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000474\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EIt has been a really interesting little exercise to watch National\u2019s leadership work over the last week or so. John Key is complaining because someone is putting the knife into him, which is very silly. Gerry Brownlee is being blamed for that by Bill English in order to get Gerry Brownlee\u2019s pot on. But no one went back to Nick Smith and Bill English, who were actually the causes of the problem, to tell them to stay in line. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000475\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EThat is probably a sign of the approach of Dr Brash, who was pretending to be angry in the House today. That was a fairly sad example of a speech. I think Winston Peters was relatively soft on Dr Brash yesterday. He was amusing but soft, because it was almost certainly the worst speech that has ever been given by a Leader of the Opposition in response to a Prime Minister\u2019s statement at the beginning of a year. It is actually the easiest speech to give. The Leader of the Opposition receives the speech 4 hours beforehand, having had all summer to do the basic preparation. He or she can fine-tune it a bit over those 4 hours, and then say it like he or she means it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000476\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EWell, Don Brash was stumbling over the words. He looked like he had read it only once. Then he was trying to read it word for word. People do that when they are saying things they do not believe in. One of the things about this House is that members have the ability to come to the House and speak from the heart. But we know that Don Brash cannot do that, because when he speaks from the heart, and when he says what he really believes, then any possible votes for the National Party just go right out the window. We know that when he is unscripted he is either full and frank, like he was when he was wrecking the economy in the 1990s, or he forgets things, like when he could not remember National\u2019s industrial relations policy or its health policy, or when he could not remember having had three meetings with the Exclusive Brethren. What leader can a once-grand political party that prided itself on integrity possibly have when that leader goes on National Radio and forgets things? I will be generous. Most people would call him a liar.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000477\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002270fa4cbd-9380-4916-9f2a-78da059d220e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002268dfb8a6e585455baafaad7509dde0bf\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson)\u003C/span\u003E: Order!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000478\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c6b0dc72c21a4901ad5d4c2a608eeb3d\u0022\u003EHon TREVOR MALLARD\u003C/span\u003E: I am not calling him a liar; I am saying most people would do so. I am saying that he is exceptionally forgetful, that his memory is weak, that it is not deliberate, and that it is completely accidental, because I could not possibly say anything else in the House. But that is not what is being said outside the House. How can it be that when Murray McCully attacks one group of fundamentalists the National Party is being supported by another fundamentalist sect all around the country? How can it be that a once-grand political party can hostage itself to a tiny minority group of religious fundamentalists and let that group spend half a million dollars supporting it? The group even uses the National Party \u201CN\u201D within its material; delivers stuff for the National Party, as well as for the Exclusive Brethren; runs phone canvassing teams, including in my own electorate and in most of the country; and has children as young as 14 working on the phones, in their scarves, for the National Party. All that happened after discussions with Don Brash, who pretended that he did not know about it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000479\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EThen, by way of contrast, Dr Brash had the sudden period of honesty on student radio, of all things. He thought no one was listening, so he could tell the truth. And it all came out. I just ask members opposite to please keep Don Brash. We think he should be their leader. We want him in the next election, because someone who has either that type of integrity or that type of memory is the sort of opponent the Labour Party wants. When he talks to people here about how much it is appropriate to spend and how much it is not appropriate to spend, why does he not look in the mirror? Why does he not look at what the National Party put out\u2014funded by Parliamentary Service\u2014during the election campaign and gave out at meetings he attended? I will accept that there were not many copies at those meetings, because not many people attended them, but some people from the Labour Party went along and collected up the material. We did that because we wanted to make sure that we saw what National was doing, and now we know that they have been caught. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000480\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EWhile we are talking about hypocrites, we should have a look at this bunch of papers.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000481\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003ESitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022 data-id=\u002261e26883b34d44ca8b718767450f0ed5\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000482\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002261e26883b34d44ca8b718767450f0ed5\u0022\u003EDr WAYNE MAPP (National\u2014North Shore):\u003C/span\u003E The question I ask of this House, and of this country, is whether political morality matters. Is it still relevant, or do we live in an era where anything we can get away with is OK, and that that is the only test that matters? If that is the answer, it is not surprising that New Zealanders routinely now put politicians at the bottom of the scale when it comes to trustworthiness. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000483\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EI suggest to the members on the Labour benches that Helen Clark\u2019s actions\u2014and I mention her specifically because it is her photo and signature on the pledge card, and she says to Labour conferences that she is accountable\u2014have brought this country to a new low. She is happy and pleased, I suggest, to use public money to breach electoral spending limits. She cannot suggest, and, indeed, has not suggested, that she was in ignorance of it, because she knows the truth of the matter. She must have known that Labour would exceed its spending limit by hundreds of thousands of dollars by issuing that card in the middle of an election campaign. Campaigns like that do not just happen by chance; they are planned over many months. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000484\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EEarlier today Mr Ryall pointed out that it is not just the card but also the brochure that went out a few days later, which cost probably at least as much as the card\u2014perhaps a total of nearly $1 million above the expenditure limit. Let us just think about this extra $1 million\u2014$400,000 for the card and probably another $400,000 or more for the brochure itself. Does it matter? Well, I suggest that it does. Controls on political advertising exist for one fundamental reason: to ensure that the political contest is fair. New Zealanders value hugely that concept of fairness. In fact, it is one of the issues of self-identification we have as a people; it is one of our defining characteristics. Unfair tactics are tactics associated with cheaters. In this case the Labour Party intended to cheat New Zealanders and steal an election. I will be honest: that credit card and that brochure were a slick production. They were skilfully put together and were intended to influence people. They were easy to read, easy to digest, and easy to remember. Labour intended that to be the case. It wanted that card to make a difference\u2014and it probably did. It was possibly the difference between winning and losing. The real problem is that it was illegal, but Labour simply does not care. Labour members do not care that, plainly, they breached the law. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000485\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EWe can compare that situation with that of Bob Clarkson. If he had overspent by a single dollar, he would not be a member of Parliament today. In fact, he could not even have stood again in the election. One dollar in excess would have been enough to disbar him. Labour has spent perhaps a million dollars more, and there will be no consequences, or only consequences that those members think do not matter. Maybe someone will be fined. Well, who cares about that? Maybe someone will go to jail, perhaps for 1 year. Maybe Helen Clark does not care whether her president or some other person\u2014Heather Simpson, maybe\u2014goes to jail. So what? Labour achieved its desired outcome by winning the election. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000486\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EElectoral law does depend on integrity, because it depends on those people who seek public office observing the law. After all, if politicians do not observe the law, how can we possibly tell the rest of the public to obey the law? We set examples here, and we expect others to follow. National members went to great lengths to check whether various items of expenditure were legitimate, and when there was doubt we would inquire of the Electoral Commission. I have seen some of those letters; I am knowledgable in this particular area. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000487\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EWhat did Labour do? Well, if I go by what Pete Hodgson has said, the most those members did was to have an informal chat with their lawyer. There was nothing in writing, just a few oral questions. They just bounced a few ideas off each other\u2014possibly in a bar, over a drink or two. Do members know why they did that? It was because they did not want to know the truth. I suggest that is the mark of the wrongdoer. Wrongdoers do not want to know what the law actually is. They fear the truth, because knowing the truth lands them with guilty intent. So the last thing they would do is to ask. They go along, thinking: \u201CI can get away with this.\u201D And that has been Labour\u2019s reaction on this whole issue\u2014to get away with it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000488\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EThere is a pattern, I suggest. The Prime Minister has forged paintings; the police said so. She drove through the South Island like some kind of Eastern potentate. She thinks the law does not apply to her. In fact, what was her response? She said to the taxpayers: \u201CBuy me a private jet and your problems will be solved.\u201D So, in her view, this breach can be explained as being technical. Her view is that the law is muddled, everyone does it, and no harm was done. But I suggest that deep harm has been done, to the integrity of this nation. If we imagine, for instance, that there had been UN observers at this election, and information came to light that one of the parties was cheating in its advertising, we know there would be an international report to say that New Zealand elections are unfair and that one party was rorting the system. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000489\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003ESo why does Labour even do this? It does it, obviously, to win elections, but to what purpose? It seems to us and, indeed, the nation that the sole purpose of Labour today is simply to retain power. Those members are tired and they have run out of ideas. We even have the cynicism of the Minister of Finance saying to a select committee that we may not get a tax cut. It is the cynicism of retaining power, and breaching promises in a cavalier and indifferent way, as if they do not matter. Of course, if power is one\u2019s only end, I guess they do not matter, because that is the end unto itself. That is the sorry spectacle that we see now\u2014a tired Government for whom the end is everything and the means does not matter; as long as it gets it there, that is sufficient. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000490\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022df788c48-b9be-42fd-b8f2-76629a5572b8\u0022\u003EWell, there does come a judgment day. I have actually been part of a Government that was judged by the public, and the public\u2014let us be honest\u2014saw that we had kind of run out of steam. Part of that is to do with a Government\u2019s conduct in office. I suggest we have never seen such blatant misconduct in office as with this Government. We have a stench of corruption, a cavalier attitude towards observing the law, and a blatant attempt to steal an election\u2014the most violent thing one can do to the democratic process. I suggest that Labour will not shake off this stench. It has made too many errors, too many compromises, and has broken too many laws for the public of New Zealand to forgive or to forget. I say to all the members on the other side of the House\u2014Ministers and otherwise\u2014that they should make the most of it now, because beyond 2008, or whenever, they will not see additional days in office. They are mired in muck, muck of their own making. They will be the authors of their demise and, frankly, I and many other New Zealanders cannot wait but to see that day.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022 data-id=\u002245e19989c81b4810ac7ff4dab02b2458\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000491\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002245e19989c81b4810ac7ff4dab02b2458\u0022\u003EHon JIM SUTTON (Minister of State):\u003C/span\u003E Listening to the Opposition spokesman on the abolition of political correctness, I was moved to reflect that in actual fact it is very hard to get rid of political correctness without, at the same time, removing all vision, all principle, all philosophy, and all charity as well. There was no sign of any of those in the member\u2019s speech and certainly, in his case, he had also removed any trace of either wit or wisdom as well. I thought that I did not want to get into that. I thought that I would just leave it and get on with the things that are necessary for a humble back-bencher like myself to do. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000492\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022\u003EFirstly, I want to pay tribute to the junior Government whip. It always behoves a member of Parliament to be onside with his or her junior whip, because the whip controls the leave book and the time will come\u2014no matter whether or not members believe in political correctness\u2014when a member will need leave. Hence I want to make clear my admiration and respect\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000493\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002228c7c6dbbd22463f8e842dfb949eaf88\u0022\u003EDarren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: My favourite colleague.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000494\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223e9cb8ad3dab4902a2dfd9c01cf36f6b\u0022\u003EHon JIM SUTTON\u003C/span\u003E: There we are. One of the things I have learnt in my 20-odd years in politics is that one can never overdo the flattery. Even when people know perfectly well that one is shamelessly flattering them, they still enjoy it. One should do it, and one cannot do it too much. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000495\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022\u003EBut instead of doing that, I want to talk about something I can claim to know a thing about, having worked at it for 6 years\u2014that is, trade negotiations. The last 6 years has been a period of unprecedented activity in the trade negotiations portfolio. During that time, New Zealand has completed three trade agreements, including one with Singapore started by my predecessor in the job, the Hon Lockwood Smith. We have started and completed one with Thailand, which will have many more actual consequences in trade statistics, because it is a large emerging economy where our sorts of products were heavily protected by high tariff levels and so on. Getting that done will do quite a bit of good. Already the statistics are showing a substantial increase in trade in both directions after just a few months, which is exactly what should happen. Trade agreements should make the people of both participating countries better off. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000496\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022\u003EThe third trade agreement\u2014which has been completed but which is still to complete its parliamentary process here and in Chile, where some delays have been caused by the intervening presidential election\u2014involves Chile, Brunei, Singapore, and New Zealand. That is the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement. That agreement\u2019s significance is that it is a strand in the spaghetti bowl that goes across the Pacific, and not too many strands do. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000497\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022\u003EThe world might be considered to be in some danger of ending up with three\u2014not one, but three\u2014spaghetti bowls and, essentially, three big trading blocs: the Americas; Europe, with perhaps Africa attached; and Asia. That is truly an Orwellian prospect\u2014a bit late, but, nevertheless\u2014three increasingly uncomfortable power blocs that are forever deciding which two will deal to the third one. We could do without that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000498\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022\u003EI think that the strategic economic partnership we are involved in, which crosses the Pacific, will, hopefully, attract more countries to join it. It is an easy way to get into an existing regional trade agreement, and there has certainly been some serious inquiry from other States both in Asia and in South America, so there is some future in that one. Apart from that, there are four more agreements in negotiation with China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and ASEAN as a whole, together with Australia. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000499\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022\u003EOn top of that\u2014and the Government\u2019s highest trade priority\u2014is the overarching multilateral trade negotiation of the Doha development round of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO negotiations would have to be the most stimulating and, at the same time, most frustrating exercise that I have ever been involved in in politics. They are stimulating because the benefits that can accrue to hundreds of millions of people around the world\u2014in fact, to a huge proportion, eventually, of the world\u2019s population\u2014are so great that it is certainly worth putting a lot of effort and enthusiasm into them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000500\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022\u003ENew Zealand has a negotiating team of not just Ministers, who come and go, but also officials who are absolutely stacked with talent, and it has been a privilege and a pleasure for me to be associated with such a strong and dedicated team. New Zealand should be proud of its diplomatic staff, officials, and specialists in a wide variety of our Government departments who contribute to \u201Cteam New Zealand\u201D in the trade negotiations exercise, of leaders of private sector organisations such as our producer boards and their successor institutions, and of some of our major corporations that also play a real part in this enterprise. I have complete faith in New Zealanders when they act in a cooperative, team-like way, and \u201Cteam New Zealand\u201D can take on the world really, because we do act as a team. I say at this stage that although sometimes the bipartisan, or the multipartisan, accord on foreign policy, particularly on trade policy, wobbles a bit because, of course, there will be disagreements over this policy or that policy, in general the bipartisan accord holds. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000501\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022\u003EI pay tribute at this moment to Tim Groser, who has just come in. Some people might have thought that Tim Groser and I could not stand the sight of each other, but that is not the case. I think that Tim has gone some way to getting his colleagues back in line again and supporting the national interest. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000502\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00222e7121af-c8f1-4d5c-b1f5-5646e4d9ca70\u0022\u003EFinally, I point out that no WTO round has ever failed, but, of course, there has been a wide variety of degrees of success. However, if we can get an agreement that includes a commitment to abolish all export subsidies and makes a bit of progress in other areas, we will have something on which we can build in the future. Whether it be bilaterally, regionally, or multilaterally, we will have done something worthwhile for New Zealand. The abolition of export subsidies alone would make the round a winner for New Zealand. We will keep trying for far more, and we will get something more, but this round will not fail. There is no reason for it to fail, and all I want to do is to urge members of Parliament\u2014whichever party they are in\u2014to keep the faith and to keep working for a deal that is in the best interests of this country and of others.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cfdabe42-521a-4dca-afab-3e781731a130\u0022 data-id=\u002202e334b4b6444bae917b8d5a4df0b59c\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cfdabe42-521a-4dca-afab-3e781731a130\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002202e334b4b6444bae917b8d5a4df0b59c\u0022\u003EDr PAUL HUTCHISON (National\u2014Port Waikato):\u003C/span\u003E It is excellent to hear the Hon Jim Sutton praising the National Party and Tim Groser, but what is quite astounding is his state of denial of his party\u2019s overspend of $450,000 in the last election campaign. I want to point out how serious that was in that it denied real people, people who are in pain and suffering, real and tangible help through the health system.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000504\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cfdabe42-521a-4dca-afab-3e781731a130\u0022\u003EThat $450,000 might have meant, at $2,500 per cataract operation, that 180 elderly people could regain their sight. But, no, Labour has denied them that. Labour over the last 6 years has become so cynical, so distorted, and so intent on regaining power that it has kept the money for itself and denied real people help. Let us have a look at another possibility. That $450,000 could have helped 1,000 children have their $500 grommet operation. Instead, those children\u2019s hearing has deteriorated, their education has deteriorated\u2014[Interruption] Jim Sutton interjects; I am not sure what he is saying, but it is his Government that has denied those children. Let us think of one more example of how Helen Clark, Mike Williams, and all their cronies in the Labour Party have denied people in New Zealand treatment. At $100 an assessment, that sum could have meant that 4,500 New Zealanders wallowing on the waiting lists had their first specialist assessment. Instead, they are doomed to stay there.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000505\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cfdabe42-521a-4dca-afab-3e781731a130\u0022\u003EI must say I recall so vividly none other than Annette King saying in 1998 that a waiting list of 98,000 was criminal. Yet today the hospital waiting list, under Labour, stands at 160,000. So who is the criminal? Is it Labour, by its own standards of judgment? I am afraid to say that it is. And is it for criminal activity that the police are now investigating the overspending of the Labour Party? Because this overspending has tragically denied treatment to both young and old on the hospital waiting list.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000506\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cfdabe42-521a-4dca-afab-3e781731a130\u0022\u003EBut what is just as galling is Helen Clark\u2019s statement this afternoon in this House that Labour has fulfilled all its election pledges. No amount of airbrushing on the pledge card will be sufficient to hide the length of Helen\u2019s Clark\u2019s nose, come the next election. That is what will happen\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000507\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229c27fde62cba4285bf3f9d87cd4d2b54\u0022\u003EDarren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: Is he a member of the Exclusive Brethren club?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000508\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cfdabe42-521a-4dca-afab-3e781731a130\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223e032106f5cb4138836d7338383808c5\u0022\u003EDr PAUL HUTCHISON\u003C/span\u003E: Darren Hughes lost his majority by an enormous amount. I think it went down by about 150 percent. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000509\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223f670c71-9be5-4a7e-a197-0590da759280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225a5604f0c0b44707b54bc49d9ae848ee\u0022\u003ETim Groser\u003C/span\u003E: He\u2019s gone.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000510\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cfdabe42-521a-4dca-afab-3e781731a130\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c0cb738cceb7454db0891ab5f4ee4921\u0022\u003EDr PAUL HUTCHISON\u003C/span\u003E: He will be gone. One of the extraordinary things was that in the House this afternoon Helen Clark said that all Labour\u2019s pledges had been fulfilled. Well, I want to talk about one that was on the original pledge card, the one from back in 1999, when Labour people were tearing around the country. It stated: \u201CWe will deliver\u201D and \u201CMy commitment to you.\u201D, and she said that she would maintain access to free doctors\u2019 visits for children under 6 years of age. Well, just prior to the election, I randomly rang up four general practitioners\u2019 surgeries. The co-payment in South Auckland was about $5 to $10; in central Auckland, about $10 to $15; in Christchurch, for under-sixes, about $12 to $15. But then I randomly rang up one of the surgeries in Miramar, which is in Rongotai\u2014the former health Minister\u2019s own electorate\u2014and I was told that the co-payment for my two under-6-year-olds would be $18 each, and $15 if I paid by cash. That is the sort of unfulfilled pledge that Helen Clark and Labour have absolutely failed New Zealanders on.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000511\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cfdabe42-521a-4dca-afab-3e781731a130\u0022\u003ELet us have a look at another one on this famous pledge card: \u201CMy commitment to you\u201D is we will cut the health bureaucracy. What do we know about that? What do we know about what Annette King said about the health bureaucracy? She said that when there was devolution to 21 district health boards the Ministry of Health would decrease by 25 percent. Instead, its numbers increased by 25 percent! But that is not all. The Government then set about building the most extraordinarily complicated bureaucracy in the history of the health system in New Zealand, with the 21 district health boards and all their committees, and the 76 primary health organisations and all their committees.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000512\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cfdabe42-521a-4dca-afab-3e781731a130\u0022\u003ENow, at the beginning of 2006, Helen Clark pronounces that the big thing in the health area is to have productivity increase. We have heard for the last 3 years the OECD, Treasury, and even the finance Minister, Dr Cullen, saying that productivity increases are absolutely fundamental if we are to ensure that the health dollar in New Zealand is spent well. Finally, it has dawned on the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, that that is just about impossible, because of the extraordinary mantle of complicated bureaucracy that Labour has built in the last 6 years.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000513\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cfdabe42-521a-4dca-afab-3e781731a130\u0022\u003EI now wish to turn to another shrill pledge that the Prime Minister made in her Speech from the Throne on 8 November 2005. She said: \u201CMy government believes that science and innovation are critical to driving our prosperity.\u201D For once, I actually agree with her sentiment, but what is astounding is the mantra she, the previous Minister of Research, Science and Technology\u2014Minister Hodgson\u2014and the current Minister, Steve Maharey, articulate in saying they have spent 50 percent more on science, research, and development in the last 6 years, because the fact is that when one expresses investment in research and development as a percentage of GDP one finds it has gone down since 1997 and hardly moved since 1999. That shows the lack of commitment to an area \u201Ccritical to driving our prosperity.\u201D Only yesterday KPMG published a report that pointed out that New Zealand is not making enough progress in research and development in relation to its rivals, and that we are \u201Cinvesting too little in R\u0026amp;D\u2014as a percentage of overall GDP\u2014to compete on the basis of innovation and technology and to protect themselves from low-cost manufacturing powerhouses offshore.\u201D Yesterday we were treated to the spectre of David Cunliffe grinning like a Cheshire cat, sitting astride a surfboard with his wetsuit on the wrong way round. Pity help David Cunliffe if he tried to stand up! Like the rest of the Labour Government he simply missed the wave and he and his Government are about to be fully submerged.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000514\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cfdabe42-521a-4dca-afab-3e781731a130\u0022\u003EI end by saying that in 1999, when the Labour Government came into power, it inherited a growth rate of 4.9 percent. Current predictions are that growth is falling towards 1.7 percent. That says it all. The Labour Government has simply let New Zealand down.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022 data-id=\u0022128fdf78f4c24c8288466e38d0516202\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000515\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022128fdf78f4c24c8288466e38d0516202\u0022\u003EHon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Customs):\u003C/span\u003E People in exclusive glass houses should not throw stones. While the brethren on the Opposition benches preach doom and gloom, the Government has a good story to tell. I listened with interest to the debate. I listened to a lot of the comments made across the House. The M\u0101ori members on the Government side of the House copped quite a bit of flak from one of the Opposition speakers, and I want to have a look at what was said because some of it deserves a response. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000516\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EOne of the comments was that only the M\u0101ori Party stands for M\u0101ori rights in this House. No, that is not the case. M\u0101ori are as diverse a population group as they are in their views on how the world should be. To say that only one party in this House reflects the views and aspirations of M\u0101ori I think would be stretching it a little, and pushing the interests of M\u0101ori into a very small pigeon-hole. That is the first point. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000517\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EThe second point was about the issue of the Treaty of Waitangi. A comment was made in the debate that this Government will remove references to the Treaty of Waitangi from legislation. That is not this Government\u2019s policy. I believe that it is one of New Zealand First\u2019s policies, but it was never ever the intention of the Labour Government. If people look further back at the position on the Treaty, I think they will see a lot of commonalities amongst some of the Opposition parties. But it is not the Government\u2019s intention to remove references to the Treaty of Waitangi or its principles. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000518\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EHowever, in saying that, we should all be asking how we can give effect to the intent of the Treaty, which may or may not require legislation. I think there are some mixed and varied views about that. For example, we could have quite a big debate about whether there should be references to the Treaty of Waitangi in legislation, principally around article 3 rights. Some would argue in this House that that is not the way to go, and some would argue that it is the way to go. I think that is a very real debate. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000519\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EThe other comment concerned prisons. That issue is as topical to the people around Te Kauwhata as it is to the people of Ng\u0101wh\u0101. Although some of the hap\u016B may have objected to the prisons\u2014and I am sure that is the case in the north\u2014others are working at the prisons, and others are trying to have a proactive engagement through developing restorative justice, rehabilitation programmes, and post-parole programmes at the prisons. So on the one hand we cannot simply say that we do not want prisons, when on the other hand we know that half of our wh\u0101nau are working in them. I know that is the case with regard to the speaker who raised that issue. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000520\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EI turn to the whole approach in the Department of Corrections, and I want to mention something that is happening very close to home for me. It is an initiative that grew out of people asking how they can do things differently. Because these things take time, initiatives grew out of a direction led by Judge Henwood, by some of the providers throughout the country and in my own electorate\u2014they said they could try to do something different. A youth justice facility, Te Hurihanga, is going up in Hamilton, and I know that the member for Hamilton East is very well aware of it. That facility tries to divert young people from ever going through the prison system, by working with them and their families. That initiative may help to steer young people away from prison altogether, and I support it. It is a Government-led initiative but it grew from the community, and that is the point. So those things take time. We cannot simply say \u201Cno prisons\u201D; we have to have alternatives to them. We cannot simply be critical and raise problems without having solutions that are workable, and generally the ethic of the Government is to work alongside communities. That is what we are about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000521\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EI speak in this debate tonight with a sense of optimism about the kind of New Zealand that this Government is working hard to build. It is a kind of New Zealand that draws on its strengths and optimises its potential, a kind of New Zealand where culture is to be celebrated, a kind of New Zealand where innovation is fostered, a kind of New Zealand where we value research, and a kind of New Zealand where the \u201Ccan-do\u201D attitude extends to and is the hallmark of both M\u0101ori and P\u0101keh\u0101 alike. The kind of New Zealand that I am proud to be a part of is one that seeks to restore a balance in the lives, homes, and communities of everyday New Zealanders, who just want there to be investment in a better future for themselves. That is what this Labour Government is about. There have been 6 years of setting a platform on which to build a better New Zealand that we can all be proud of. It is a positive message; it is not one of doom and gloom. It is one that we own here, with the Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000522\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003ENew Zealanders did not vote for a reactive, retrospective way of dealing with the economy or with people and communities. They voted for a forward-looking Government that is able to foster strength, diversity, and opportunity, born from a sense of being distinct and unique as a country that is not afraid to show leadership when it really matters\u2014and there are some really hard issues facing us. Last year, in particular, we saw a panorama of success stories, too numerous to go through today. But New Zealand\u2019s leadership, innovation, and natural talent excelled in many areas\u2014in sport, film, television, business, music, art, and science. I will just say that those successes did not happen by accident. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000523\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EIn fact, if we look at my electorate and at some of the hallmarks of success, which are owned by the communities and supported by the Government, we see we can have a lot of stories to be proud of. Let us look at Port Waikato and the land of Ng\u0101ti T\u012Bpa, Ng\u0101ti \u0100maru, and Ng\u0101ti Tahina, where people are trying to build the capacity of marae to engage in their own development plans. Let us look at those successes, because those initiatives came from that community. They have increased homeownership in that region. They are better targeting the training needs of their young people. They are securing local government support for M\u0101ori participation in local government decision-making. They are implementing resource management responses to care for the lower catchment of the Waikato River. Those initiatives have all grown from that community, supported by this Government, and that is a positive story to tell. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000524\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EIf we traverse to Morrinsville and to Ng\u0101ti Hau\u0101, what is happening there? People are supporting hap\u016B development strategies to build a sustainable future. How are they doing that? Homeownership is a big issue for them, and they are improving the range of options for homeownership. They are strengthening initiatives for youth development, so that all youth have a real opportunity in their communities and beyond their communities. They are working with local councils to improve sewerage and waste-water infrastructural services to homeowners. They are increasing local training opportunities and employment opportunities. They are responding to the wide and diverse range of mental health needs in their communities. They are delivering those initiatives for themselves. They are also exploring ways to release new products into the market and also overseas. That is a good story to tell the people out there. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000525\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EWhat is happening in Hamilton, the home of Ng\u0101ti Wairere and Ng\u0101ti M\u0101hanga, and the region where Waikato-Tainui operates? People are engaging in public and private sector partnerships to support the aspirations of M\u0101ori developments. What are some of the hallmarks of that? There are smart economic alliances involving iwi and local council, for example Novotel Tainui Hamilton; iwi and the private sector, for example in partnership with the Warehouse; iwi and iwi in a Ng\u0101i Tahu and Tainui joint venture in fisheries; and iwi and tertiary institutions, in relation to Waikato University, Wintec, and the Waikato Innovation Park. We have the first stand-alone wharekura in that community. We have initiatives with the public sector that work with M\u0101ori to reduce violence and to increase employment opportunities. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000526\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EThose types of success stories have all grown from communities, supported by the Government. So although the brethren on the Opposition benches preach a story of doom and gloom, if they bothered to go into the communities that I work alongside they would see that positive things are happening. Why? It is because we want people to be able to do things for themselves. We know that they have to be able to do that, supported by Government investments. They will be able to be the architects of their own future. There is really only one question to end with, having listened to the doom and gloom on the other side of the House: is this mainstream enough for Don Brash?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022 data-id=\u00229a8519d7f6484d6ebbab600c6ffe5e4b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000527\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00229a8519d7f6484d6ebbab600c6ffe5e4b\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE (National):\u003C/span\u003E First, I want to put to bed one of the falsehoods that Nanaia Mahuta has just raised\u2014that she has the first stand-alone wharekura in her area, which was opened under the Labour Government. I thought it was Te Kura Kaupapa M\u0101ori o Hoani Waititi wharekura, which was opened under the National Government. It is interesting how people rewrite history just to suit themselves. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000528\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003EI want to congratulate Jim Sutton from the bottom of my heart on the sterling job he has done over the last 6 years. I think he has done a great job for New Zealand and our kids to come, and their kids to come. When one has a good person on the team, one does not get rid of that person. One has to ask oneself why, when one has a really cool guy doing the job for the country\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000529\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022803002d1-e810-4bd8-b8e7-2e97d0d6f626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226ded03f8005b4b6f91506c51aa01bd36\u0022\u003ESimon Power\u003C/span\u003E: A well-liked person.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000530\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226ee8e93a6aa0495da13fb779d5ab6f2b\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E:\u2014a well-liked person, well-respected even by some members on this side\u2014would one get rid of him? It has nothing to do with the fact that he may be getting on in age, because we respect that in a lot of people. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000531\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003EHowever, I want to talk about a constitutional outrage. It is about Ali Baba and her 50 thieves. Ali Baba and her 50 thieves purloined $450,000 out of the taxpayers\u2019 pocket\u2014not out of their own pockets or out of the coffers of the Labour Party but out of the back pockets of working-class New Zealanders. This was after the stingy Minister of Finance rustled up only a 67c tax cut\u2014the chewing gum tax cut What did we see on the TV tonight?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000532\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e0e20ec0a22e4533a05286b2f7156953\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: That\u2019s gone.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000533\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229b30b13ba430448d8c716a48fd3a6624\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: That is gone. Why? The Government cannot afford 67c, because Helen Clark, the Prime Minister, maxed out on her credit card. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000534\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003EAlso, I want to say that when something is rotten one really knows it; one can smell the stench. Well, members should have a smell of this. These Ministers have been referred to the police: Dover Samuels, Phillip Field, Ruth Dyson, David Benson-Pope, and John Tamihere. I have a bit of advice for the Labour Party. Why not just refer the whole party to the police and get it over and done with? And that is exactly what is happening now, because it purloined $450,000. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000535\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003ENanaia Mahuta makes light of the prison issue. I remember campaigning as the Minister of M\u0101ori Affairs in 1999 at Simpson Park Hall in Moerewa. There was a guy there who was after my seat, who actually won it. His name is Dover Samuels. Do members know what Dover Samuels said to the public meeting at Simpson Park Hall in Moerewa? He said: \u201CThere will be no prison in the north\u2014over my dead body.\u201D How much more does the public need to have? It goes back to 1999, it continues today, and what we see is the slowly rotting carcass of a poor old party that used to be good and full of principles. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000536\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003EI want to turn my ammunition and my guns on my former leader, Winston Peters. I have four things to say about Winston.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000537\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cba965bb-864f-4e06-99dc-6fcdfd007ad5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228af1f92552df4d2e96ffe84c395b05d2\u0022\u003EPita Paraone\u003C/span\u003E: Four is a very magic number.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000538\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022788950e3c02146fc9b6386658bc4a707\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: Absolutely. Our Minister of Foreign Affairs thinks that Fiji is part of Polynesia; it is actually part of Melanesia. He does not know his geography. But he also thinks\u2014and this is the doozy\u2014that the President of Argentina is \u201CManual Labour\u201D. The only Singaporean he ever talks about retired 10 years ago\u2014Lee Kuan Yew. To top it all off\u2014and this is the best one, especially as the Prime Minister has been talking about national identity\u2014our Minister of Foreign Affairs reckons he is Chinese. How is that? And he can get away with it. Do members know why? It is because he\u2014no one else\u2014is the laughing stock.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000539\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002233bb62af724b457ab694e330906a8d6e\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: What\u2019s he going to do when he goes to Turkey?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000540\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223e0db467791a48278509be5826df7f81\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: We can all surmise what he might do. One can always tell when the Government is on the ropes by the stench of a rotting carcass. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000541\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003EHere is something else. In my mind, the biggest failure of this Government is that prior to Christmas kindergartens nationwide went on strike for better pay and better conditions, as workers are wont to do now and then. Yesterday the brilliant news came through that the kindergartens and the Government had settled. I thought to myself, well done! Good news for everybody. Our kids will be safe. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000542\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003EWell, what was the settlement? This is what the union, on behalf of its members, settled for: absolutely nothing. They got nothing, zilch, and zero. All put together, that makes a big fat zero. So what was the strike about? It was actually about policy on the hoof by Trevor Mallard and Steve Maharey, who said: \u201CCrikey, how are we going to win this election? Not only have we have purloined $450,000 out of the taxpayers\u2019 back pockets, but we have also offered 20 hours free to those union kindergartens that support us.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000543\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002250246ff38cfa44f58c6eab5082461956\u0022\u003EDarren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: Teachers union.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000544\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227ecd1f41dfe5437a9865e422ac7a6e9d\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, no, no. Then all of a sudden there was a hue and cry from all the private providers, so during the election they upped the ante and said there would be 20 hours free for every teacher-led early childhood centre. So what was the strike about? Actually, the settlement was to settle on a working party for the next 12 months to figure out how the Government will implement this policy. One would have thought that the policy and the implementation programme had all been worked out in the 2004 Budget and that, bang, on a certain date, it was there. But the unions went out on strike. What was that for? Was it a diversionary tactic to take the heat off the poor rotting stench of the carcass over there? It was exactly that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000545\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003ESo the members of that union, the teachers of our children and our grandchildren, were used as pawns in the silly little Labour Government\u2019s plan. There is only one word for unions that do that\u2014scab. The union scabbed on its own mates, and everybody knows it. All one has to do is to look at the settlement that was released yesterday. Who won? Was it Labour that won? Was it the New Zealand Educational Institute that won? No one won. The biggest losers on the night were the workers, the teachers in those kindergartens. They did not get any new conditions and they did not get better pay. They went out on strike. They used their might as workers to strike for better pay and conditions but all they got was a 12-month agreement for a working party to figure out how to implement a Government policy. That has to be the worst settlement I have ever heard of in this country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000546\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002233087b588a2a48de9c2b16443b7c79f3\u0022\u003EDarren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: What would you do?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000547\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228d78b56323384352a49c3fa2c04de825\u0022\u003EHon TAU HENARE\u003C/span\u003E: In the minute I have left I will tell the member what I would do. I would directly target those 20 hours at the poor families that need them instead of giving them to the families in Remuera that do not need them. It is simple economics, I say to Darren Hughes. It is simple: stop bribing the public, stop pinching money from taxpayers\u2019 back pockets, and we will all get on better.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000548\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ed9ad81-05c1-4171-80c6-24fa02cade42\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022172e80508cb6438bb09f459e64981dfe\u0022\u003EMr DEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: The time of New Zealand First is split into two 5-minute slots.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00220daaf9fb-1a1f-4d31-848a-fd13cb1a2c5a\u0022 data-id=\u00223b71cb19cce74961b29a93ac631098eb\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000549\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220daaf9fb-1a1f-4d31-848a-fd13cb1a2c5a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00223b71cb19cce74961b29a93ac631098eb\u0022\u003EBARBARA STEWART (NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E It is a real pleasure to follow a misery merchant like the previous speaker. He is a political retread who is a horrible example of what politicians can be. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000550\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220daaf9fb-1a1f-4d31-848a-fd13cb1a2c5a\u0022\u003ENew Zealand First is really looking forward to a busy year ahead as we begin to make a positive difference to groups of New Zealanders. We want to make a difference for the better. As the Prime Minister said yesterday, it is possible for those with goodwill to work together in the interests of New Zealanders. Our policy gains, secured under the supply and confidence agreement, are really significant, and they were listed in the Prime Minister\u2019s statement yesterday. [interruption] I would like to tell that member over there that it often shows a fine command of the English language to actually say nothing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000551\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220daaf9fb-1a1f-4d31-848a-fd13cb1a2c5a\u0022\u003EAs from 1 April, New Zealand First will ensure that the rate of superannuation is set at 66 percent of the average wage. That should really help our senior citizens and their living standards. It will particularly boost all of those people who are on fixed incomes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000552\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220daaf9fb-1a1f-4d31-848a-fd13cb1a2c5a\u0022\u003E Work is also going to be done to develop a seniors card that will be able to be used to identify the holder\u2019s eligibility for all public sector entitlements, and which will be capable of being used for claiming negotiated commercial discounts. New Zealand First will also be investigating ways to improve options for senior citizens who may be eligible for foreign pensions, like some people over there, as well as New Zealand superannuation, an issue that all MPs receive numerous letters on. And, of course, with New Zealand First\u2019s interest in senior care the issue of elder care will be addressed as a matter of priority in the 2006 Budget, an issue that even National members will agree with. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000553\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220daaf9fb-1a1f-4d31-848a-fd13cb1a2c5a\u0022\u003EBetter recognition can definitely be given to veterans of active overseas service, and New Zealand First, as part of its confidence and supply agreement, will be investigating the best ways of achieving that. It is definitely not a matter to be treated lightly. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000554\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220daaf9fb-1a1f-4d31-848a-fd13cb1a2c5a\u0022\u003EThe Prime Minister stated in her speech yesterday that 2006 has been designated the Year of the Veteran, and we in New Zealand First totally support that initiative. New Zealand First has also targeted child health initiatives in our confidence and supply agreement as we actively work towards the objective of having free primary health-care for all under 6-year-olds.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000555\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cba965bb-864f-4e06-99dc-6fcdfd007ad5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220dc10e34d4ef408faa79eb3bd2e6bc92\u0022\u003EPita Paraone\u003C/span\u003E: The bauble of power!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000556\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220daaf9fb-1a1f-4d31-848a-fd13cb1a2c5a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dda48ac320e6434eb6cc99571ed483ba\u0022\u003EBARBARA STEWART\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, it is. We are sharing our baubles around. New Zealand First implemented such a policy when it was in Government in 1996, but we all know that the amount of funding for this policy has diminished so much that it needs to be re-implemented. Healthy children are a priority, Poor child health, long term, has an extremely high cost to everyone, and we need children to reach their full potential. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000557\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220daaf9fb-1a1f-4d31-848a-fd13cb1a2c5a\u0022\u003ENew Zealand First is looking forward positively to the journey that it is on, improving the living standards of our senior citizens and working towards improving the health of our under-sixes. We are also looking at our provision to work towards ensuring that all New Zealanders have reasonable access to 24-hour emergency health-care. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000558\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220daaf9fb-1a1f-4d31-848a-fd13cb1a2c5a\u0022\u003ENow this is in total contrast to what the Opposition is trying to do. This week\u2019s Main Report states that National\u2019s view of the economy is at odds with economic forecasters\u2014talking the economy down so that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is interesting, indeed, for these merchants of misery and doom. In New Zealand First we want the very best for New Zealanders. I would like to remind National members that opposition from others is very often proof that one is on the right track, and we believe we are.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cba965bb-864f-4e06-99dc-6fcdfd007ad5\u0022 data-id=\u00227d59d2668b3c4fd5b932993f2b4e448e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000559\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cba965bb-864f-4e06-99dc-6fcdfd007ad5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00227d59d2668b3c4fd5b932993f2b4e448e\u0022\u003EPITA PARAONE (NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E \u0100, t\u0113n\u0101 an\u014D koe, \u0101, t\u0113n\u0101 koutou o te Whare nei. Ahakoa kua tata k\u0113 te pau te rua marama, engari t\u0113nei te mihi atu ki a koutou m\u014D te tau hou.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000560\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cba965bb-864f-4e06-99dc-6fcdfd007ad5\u0022\u003EIn spite of almost 2 months of the year having passed, I still want to take the opportunity of wishing yourself, Mr Deputy Speaker, and everyone in this House, a happy New Year. I do so mindful of the fact that that is how my parents brought me up\u2014to respect others, and I do so. However, I just want to make a few comments following some of the utterances of the previous National speaker. I remind him that I forgive him for his ignorance because he is my tamaiti, and I just want to point this out to him.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000561\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226301476c02bd4f57833aa8c24565df7d\u0022\u003EHon Tau Henare\u003C/span\u003E: Mana muncher!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000562\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cba965bb-864f-4e06-99dc-6fcdfd007ad5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bf9db822946b4683af8f10e166d00067\u0022\u003EPITA PARAONE\u003C/span\u003E: Well, talking about mana munching, who left New Zealand First so that they could maintain their ministerial baubles of power? Now if that is not mana munching, then I do not know what is. But in response to his reference to my leader misquoting Fiji as being part of Polynesia I just say that his comments were in respect of the Prime Minister of Fiji who comes from the group within Polynesia called the Lau Group. Therefore it was his reputation that my leader was referring to. I also want to remind that tamaiti of mine that when he was last in Government with the National Party, that Government took the kindergarten teachers out of the agreement. So it is a little bit rich to hear him harp on about the agreements that have just been made. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000563\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cba965bb-864f-4e06-99dc-6fcdfd007ad5\u0022\u003EOver the last 24 hours since the Prime Minister delivered her speech, this House has heard that this country has the lowest unemployment in the Western World. It is sitting at around 3 percent, as at the last December quarter. That is all well and good, but like all other statistics it is not so much what it reveals, but what it hides. What it does hide is the fact that the M\u0101ori unemployment rate stands at 7.6 percent. Although we might talk about what was, we ought to be talking about what is to be or what should be. I am really concerned, so is New Zealand First, about the high M\u0101ori unemployment rate. I can now see why there was very little reference in the Prime Minister\u2019s speech with regard to M\u0101ori development. But there was some reference, and the words were \u201CHui Taumata\u201D\u2014the great gathering of M\u0101oridom where they were given the opportunity, at their own expense, to advise the Government on what needed to be done for M\u0101ori. Where in the Western World would people be required to pay the Government for the opportunity to proffer advice, with the view that the advice would form the basis of M\u0101ori policy? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000564\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cba965bb-864f-4e06-99dc-6fcdfd007ad5\u0022\u003EBut it gets worse. How long has it been since we had the Hui Taumata? What has come out of it? I believe that it is true to say that to date nothing has come out of it. As I understand it we are still awaiting correlation of the issues that were discussed at Hui Taumata. A small group is being well paid to do that, yet that advice has not been given. But, like my leader, I too have a few emails regarding the National Party. I have one in my hand that emanates from National\u2019s caucus meeting in Taup\u014D. It states that National remains committed to removing unnecessary reference to the Treaty of Waitangi from legislation. They actually acknowledge that it is not as straightforward as they think it might be. But I tell my relatives in the M\u0101ori Party that there is a saying \u201Cbeware of Greeks bearing gifts.\u201D Quite clearly, after National\u2019s perceived discussions with the M\u0101ori Party, they really have some concerns about what its supporters perceive they are doing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022 data-id=\u0022bf75bef6ce98416280bf9e5cdc31370e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000565\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022bf75bef6ce98416280bf9e5cdc31370e\u0022\u003EHon DOVER SAMUELS (Minister of State):\u003C/span\u003E Te mea tuatahi m\u0101ku Mr Deputy Speaker kei te mihi atu ki a koe m\u014D t\u0113nei nohonga tuatahi o te Whare P\u0101remata, ar\u0101, m\u014D te tau hou kei te haere.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000566\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003EMr Deputy Speaker, I am acknowledging that this is our first sitting of Parliament for this year, and also acknowledging your role as Deputy Speaker of the House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000567\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003EI have listened to many politically desperate speeches. In the time that I have been in this House, I and many members have had the opportunity to listen to speeches from the Opposition. After hearing the last two speeches from National Party members\u2014specifically from Wayne Mapp and Tau Henare\u2014the mind boggles with imagination. Sometimes I think that perhaps they are suffering from some sort of amnesia. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000568\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003EI was interested to hear Wayne Mapp talking about stench. National having been in the freezer in cold storage for 6 years, and recognising that it is going through a process of defrosting, one wonders what Dr Mapp means by stench. From my experience, if one takes something out of the freezer and leaves it out in the sun too long, it begins to defrost and get pirau\u2014that means it goes rotten\u2014and then one smells the stench.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000569\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003E Then we had Tau Henare pointing his finger at his former leader, Winston Peters. I remember the advice that my whanaunga Winston Peters gave to his junior member who at that time was the member for Te Tai Tokerau. He said to Tau that the first lesson to learn when one comes into this House is to keep one\u2019s ears open, keep one\u2019s nose open, and keep one\u2019s mouth shut. Today and this evening we have seen the member, who used to sit with New Zealand First and who then went to the National benches when I thought he would come here, sitting over on the other side. There is a description for members of Parliament like that\u2014and one does not even have to go to the M\u0101ori dictionary. He is known as the \u201Cking of the waka jumpers\u201D. \u201CWaka jumper\u201D is actually in the M\u0101ori dictionary, and that member knows what it is all about. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000570\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003EPerhaps Mr Henare could learn from the wisdom of his former leader, who said that he recognises the Year of the Dog and the Chinese New Year, and who then made reference to the National Party becoming a lame duck. Last night I met some Chinese friends and they told me a proverb about a lame duck. They asked: \u201CWhy did the lame duck cross the road?\u201D I said: \u201CHow would I know? Why did the lame duck cross the road?\u201D They said: \u201CBecause the duck wanted to end up as a Peking duck.\u201D [Interruption] Mr Henare says it is OK. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000571\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003EThen Mr Henare went on to talk about when he was campaigning at Moerewa as the member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau. Claptrap and gabble was spoken about that, and about promises about the Ng\u0101wh\u0101 prison. I remind the member that he stood in this House, and he canvassed during the election, and he said that he would never, ever sit at the same Cabinet table with Jenny Shipley. That is a matter of record. The people of Te Tai Tokerau remember it, because he said it in M\u0101ori. I know that he suffers from amnesia, but the people of Te Tai Tokerau know that he said: \u201CMy principles, kia kaha, kia manawanui, that is who I am. I will never sit around the table with Jenny Shipley.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000572\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003EYesterday we saw the difference between the two leaders. Helen Clark made a very visionary statement about the future and the pathway of this country. She laid out the pathway for everybody to see, and she gave the solutions and the policies that would lead us down the pathway. I was sad, because I thought it was a great opportunity for Gerry Brownlee and his leader, Don Brash, to get up and make a big hit after the Prime Minister\u2019s speech. I listened intently. I saw Gerry Brownlee but I did not hear him. But I heard his leader make a pathetic response to the Prime Minister. That is the difference between the two leaders. Don Brash was putting down this country, talking about doom and gloom, and talking about stench. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000573\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003EI say to the members of the Opposition that I know it is hard to put up an argument in Opposition when things are looking so good for the country. I know it is tough. I know that Tau Henare agrees with me that it is tough. How can they mount an Opposition debate that has integrity when we have the lowest unemployment in the OECD? How can they do it? My advice to my new colleague from the M\u0101ori Party is to open his ears, open his nose, and shut his mouth for 12 months before starting to spout out. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000574\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003EI have sat in this House and fought throughout for the introduction of the principles of the Treaty into domestic legislation. [Interruption] Yes, I have. That member is suffering from amnesia again. The only party\u2014and I acknowledge New Zealand First\u2014that has committed to the principles of the Treaty in legislation is the Labour Party. The National Party has publicly come out and said that not only does it want to abolish the M\u0101ori seats\u2014here is Mr Henare suffering from amnesia again\u2014but it also wants to get rid of the Treaty, let alone the principles of the Treaty. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000575\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003EOne thing I have to hand to Don Brash is that he has turned it up. He said in his speech at \u014Crewa that National is going to look very carefully at race-based policies and at repealing references to the Treaty of Waitangi in legislation. That is what he said, and no wonder. I say to that member that Labour has fronted up and delivered. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000576\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003EI tell the M\u0101ori Party members that the time has come. The challenge is not to us as M\u0101ori members; the challenge is to them. There will be no more talk. The honeymoon is over. The M\u0101ori Party members will be judged at the next election by what they deliver, not by what they talk about. They will not be judged by the honeymoon, nor by patting themselves on the back and saying they are doing a good job. What they deliver will decide whether they will stay in this House after the election or whether it is \u201CPokare Kare Ana\u201D. It is as simple as that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000577\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003EThe challenge is not to the M\u0101ori members of this Parliament. The challenge to the M\u0101ori Party members is to deliver on their promises. They said they would repeal the Foreshore and Seabed Act. I am waiting for them to do that. The National Party said it would repeal the Act, but for different reasons\u2014because it does not want any reference to M\u0101ori customary rights; it just wants the foreshore and seabed to be owned by the Crown. Members can ask Gerry Brownlee\u2014that is what he said at the select committee.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000578\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002251dfea20-2244-4fc7-bd7d-ebf7a98580e1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002209d8240605e24ed0ac8ca23c4af63d41\u0022\u003EHon Tau Henare\u003C/span\u003E: No, no. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000579\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226977b550ffc74251bdd0a1c9abe8b489\u0022\u003EHon DOVER SAMUELS\u003C/span\u003E: I am sorry, but I think Tau should go and see the local doctor or psychiatrist\u2014one of the two\u2014because he is suffering from amnesia. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for your patience and consideration. Kei te mihi atu ki a koe. Ki a t\u0101tou katoa hoki o te Whare P\u0101remata, kia pono te k\u014Drero. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000580\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003E[I acknowledge you. To all of us in the House, speak honestly]. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000581\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003ET\u0113n\u0101 koutou, t\u0113n\u0101 koutou, happy New Year. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022 data-id=\u0022443fe1a452494cf7834da73862368ee8\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000582\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022443fe1a452494cf7834da73862368ee8\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader\u2014National):\u003C/span\u003E I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I understand that a speaker may speak for a second time in a debate if it is to clear up a matter raised by a subsequent speaker in that debate, and if it is necessary because the person raising that matter has potentially misled the House or misrepresented the person who had spoken previously. I find myself in that position following the outrageous comments from the outgoing member for Te Tai Tokerau\u2014or the late member, the list member, or whatever he is up there. I just wonder whether you could indicate that to be the case, so that our whips may make preparation for it later this evening.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000583\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ed9ad81-05c1-4171-80c6-24fa02cade42\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227dd2be3101454e33b7d9ac5fc725b124\u0022\u003EMr DEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I thank the member for raising that point of order. I think he has achieved what he wanted to achieve. In order to correct a misrepresentation a member needs to be very brief, for the member simply tries to negate what was said.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000584\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220e5696da30d442c8a8d07a7912c34d3f\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE\u003C/span\u003E: He can be called again, according to the Standing Orders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000585\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ed9ad81-05c1-4171-80c6-24fa02cade42\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226dae83c0101f4382ae8f2abbe64afb36\u0022\u003EMr DEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: The speaker before the member?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000586\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a747b81599fa44649cd1932af9f70a1d\u0022\u003EGERRY BROWNLEE\u003C/span\u003E: No, the speaker who has been misrepresented. He may have a second call in the debate, even if he or she has spoken before, in order to rectify an otherwise difficult situation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000587\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220ed9ad81-05c1-4171-80c6-24fa02cade42\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002286e41dd1e5d44124be6b79b37da5e035\u0022\u003EMr DEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: No. I think that Standing Order 106\u2014I am seeing clearly through my glasses\u2014is very clear on this issue, so we will move on.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022 data-id=\u0022fac0bb8c7fd24979932e4714a998a017\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000588\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022fac0bb8c7fd24979932e4714a998a017\u0022\u003EHon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National):\u003C/span\u003E The Hon Dover Samuels must have had a bit of a memory blank. He stood there and said that Labour had delivered, but he has forgotten that he lost his seat to another of his colleagues from the north. Members do not lose their seats if they have delivered. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000589\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002222e8e6f68c6f4c7ea6dfb41e56aed51f\u0022\u003EHon Dover Samuels\u003C/span\u003E: Where\u2019s your seat?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000590\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c35b16e2e4744185a0a01d4be8754a8a\u0022\u003EHon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU\u003C/span\u003E: It is the same as the member\u2019s. In that sense, we are the same. If the member had delivered to his people in the north when he was an electorate MP, he would still be sitting in that electorate, and Hone Harawira possibly would not be here. So Mr Samuels seems to have had a memory lapse. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000591\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003ELet us see what Dover Samuels, his colleague Shane Jones, and Nanaia Mahuta, who is also from the north\u2014who all have Ng\u0101puhi connections\u2014do in the coming term of the Labour Government. The north is hugely represented in this Parliament. Let us see what those three MPs who sit across the Chamber do to deliver to their people in the north. That is one area where not a lot of progress has been made in respect of Treaty settlements or decent housing. Up there, there are still issues around health, education, and so on. Let us see what those members, together with the other member from the north who is part of Government, Pita Paraone, can deliver for their people of Ng\u0101puhi. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000592\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224029b198-a7b2-4eea-867c-79ef46cafeb9\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221804203286e7440398e7eb864479bef1\u0022\u003EHon Dover Samuels\u003C/span\u003E: What\u2019s your problem?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000593\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224a0b89d099c64223b32137972c4a67f8\u0022\u003EHon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU\u003C/span\u003E: That member is the one in Government; that member is required to deliver. Let us see whether he delivers. In relation to the M\u0101ori Party, yes, those members are certainly on watch, but let us be clear: they have only four members in this House. The member Dover Samuels is in the Government, and it is up to him to deliver, not only to the people in the north but also to M\u0101ori in general. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000594\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EThe last week has seen a really interesting saga, with another Labour Government scandal unfolding. The public of New Zealand are definitely watching. The public usually does not want to know the detail of what we do in this place and, actually, I do not blame them. As long as they can get on with their lives, they are not always interested in what Parliament, the Government, and political parties are doing in this place. But, mark my words, they are very interested in the scandal that has unfolded in the last week. That will stick in their minds. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000595\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EEvents slip into the past, but some remain to be reactivated by a subsequent occurrence. Helen Clark\u2019s behaviour around putting her signature on a painting she did not do, and the way she just slipped that incident off her back as if it did not matter, sticks in the mind of the public. Helen Clark\u2019s motorcade sped at speeds of up to 180 kilometres an hour to get to a rugby match, and she let others take the chop for that, with not so much as an \u201CI\u2019m sorry\u201D. That sticks in the mind of the public, too. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000596\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EThis week that sort of behaviour has been reactivated by the Labour Government, which has been found wanting in the way it has spent parliamentary funding. Actually, that parliamentary funding is taxpayers\u2019 hard-earned dollars. This Government has been found to have gone outside the law in the way it has spent that money, but are we surprised? Not at all. That has been the pattern of this Government since it came to power in 1999. Its members believe that they are above the law. They behave outside the law, and when found out they try to shrug it off as if it does not matter. Well, it does matter. The public of New Zealand remember those things, and they will remember this. It is not finished. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000597\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EHelen Clark\u2019s MPs may have praised her speech, but we watched her yesterday and she knows she is in trouble over this latest scandal. Only so many times can she shrug these things off. Eventually, if people behave in ways that are outside the law, they will be done. A colleague of mine said earlier that a stench has descended over the Labour Government. That stench will not be removed no matter what Helen Clark or her cronies do or say, because it will now stay there totally. It will not move. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000598\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EI refer briefly to some of the things the Prime Minister said yesterday. She has all the centre-right language\u2014\u201Ctransformation\u201D, \u201Cinvestment\u201D, \u201Chigher productivity\u201D, \u201Cbusiness investment\u201D, \u201Cskills acquisition\u201D, and so on and so forth\u2014but she has had 6 years to deliver some of that transformation. Business has been telling her that for 6 years\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000599\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226ed89a18ff5146bb8c6c3e835f5ee099\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Six long years.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000600\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225ac209c7ca0b46618b2ea5f52925c5e4\u0022\u003EHon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU\u003C/span\u003E: \u20146 long years\u2014and now, unless something happens, it might be 9 long years\u2014but will Labour have transformed the economy at the end of it? No, it will not have, because it does not know what is required to transform an economy. Labour members can have the language, but unless they have the action to follow it up, they will not do it\u2014and they do not. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000601\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003ESo National will be watching and challenging. Unfortunately, we will be disappointed, just as the New Zealand public will be disappointed, and just as business will be disappointed. A party cannot know those things if, largely, it has not had experience in the business world. I do not know whether Labour\u2019s ratio has improved in the last 6 years, but on balance it is very low, and unless people have invested their own money, they will never know what it takes to get higher productivity and to transform the economy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000602\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EThe other point I refer to in respect of the Prime Minister\u2019s statement yesterday was her discussion on national identity, building a country that is united, and building our national identity. Again, the words are there, but like all things, we have to have the actions to follow that up. The surest way to build national identity is to ensure that all New Zealanders not only have the opportunity to reach their full potential but, indeed, do reach their full potential. Cohesion and unity come only when all New Zealanders feel they have a stake in this country, such that they can make a contribution to it and feel good knowing that they have made a contribution, so that they have not only contributed to their own lives but to the lives of all other New Zealand citizens, as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000603\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EPeople cannot feel any of those things if they are some of the 150,000 schoolchildren who cannot read or write. There is no way people can feel they have a stake in this country if they are those children. After 6 long years, we are still not seeing the light in the eyes of too many of our children\u2014not under this Government\u2014because they will never feel like they have a stake nor will they be able to make a contribution. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000604\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EPeople cannot feel cohesion if they live in South Auckland in conditions of poverty and poor housing, and have been doing so for the last 6 years. Not a lot has been done in parts of South Auckland by this Government, no matter what members on the other side of the House say. People cannot feel that they are part of a united nation if all they are feeling is despair and desolation. They cannot feel any of those things, either, if their life is drifting away while they sit for months and months\u2014sometimes years\u2014on a waiting list, and the Government seems content to build the health bureaucracy here in Wellington rather than put hard-earned taxpayers\u2019 money into more health services. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000605\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bd5aa67-2f2b-4a13-a2b4-21a392396f11\u0022\u003EI will make some comments briefly about TVNZ. A group of New Zealanders came out today and called for something different to occur. Their suggestion may be impractical for a fully funded public broadcaster, but their proposal states that what we have now is not working. The Minister of Broadcasting, Steve Maharey, has presided over a total shambles with TVNZ, and he sits there with his smarmy manner and does nothing about it. It looks like we will have to wait until the public broadcaster reaches absolute rock bottom before the Prime Minister sacks the Minister from the job, because that is what should happen to him. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022 data-id=\u00222bb61b0b7c4343b4a21db8158caae8ce\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000606\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00222bb61b0b7c4343b4a21db8158caae8ce\u0022\u003EDARREN HUGHES (Labour\u2014Otaki):\u003C/span\u003E That was the Hon Georgina te Heuheu, one of the great joy-germs of the New Zealand Parliament. She is one of the people who, every time she gets up, says so many positive and wonderful things. She is the kind of person we would ring if we ever wanted cheering up. We would call Georgina te Heuheu because she is so positive about New Zealand and says so many good things, and that speech just showed it. She really does see the glass as being half empty. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000607\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EThis year the Labour-led Government will continue to lead economic transformation, will continue to support families young and old, and will keep building a national identity. Those are the three things we will do this year, to make sure that all New Zealanders feel that this is the country they want to spend their future in. When the Prime Minister rose on Tuesday to set that out, not only did she have the statistics of 6 good years of Government behind her but she also had the ideas of where this Government will go in the next 3 years, and in the next 6 months. Just in the next 6 months alone\u2014because this is only a 10-minute call\u2014we will set up some of the things that the Labour-led Government will do for New Zealand to keep building that economic transformation, supporting families young and old, and building a national identity. No three things could be more important to our country this year, to make sure we have the kind of social inclusion and fair society that we need for all Kiwis. That is what this party in Government is absolutely committed to doing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000608\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EThe National Party members, with their doom and gloom approach through this whole debate, are missing all the economic statistics that are out there for them. During the 6 years that Labour has been in Government, the economic growth rate has averaged 3.8 percent. That is at the top end of the OECD scale. This economy has done fantastically well in the last 6 years, but the Opposition says that that is just because of good luck and that the Government is completely and utterly irrelevant to what happens in the economy. But then if we look at what has happened in the 6 years we have been in Government, we see that company profits are up $25 billion. If we go back to the last 6 years of the National Government, we see that company profits went up only $12 billion. So we might say that when we can double profit, the Government is doing a pretty good thing for the private sector. Of course, National says that when Labour is in office it is all good luck, but when National is there it is because of its genius\u2014all because of the economic brilliance of all those wonderful National back-benchers who have their degrees in economics. It is a farce. So 3.8 percent\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000609\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224ff3e092-9caa-44d9-9171-5c8fca280d96\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222ed1e6f323c542a8a20ac77d572231e9\u0022\u003EMark Blumsky\u003C/span\u003E: Slow down. Slow down.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000610\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220f88dff838e64cbe8c14be4d1f6bc0eb\u0022\u003EDARREN HUGHES\u003C/span\u003E: I have to speak fast, I tell Mr Blumsky, because I have so much to say in 10 minutes. I heard Mr Blumsky speak last night, in a kind of sing-song voice. Mr Blumsky is used to being downtown, I know, but he cannot treat Parliament like a karaoke bar, as he did when he was speaking last night. There is a man who needs speech training, and we will put some money into this year\u2019s Budget, into the special education vote, to help him out\u2014that is what we will do. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000611\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003ESo we have a 3.8 percent growth rate over the cycle in the last 6 years in the OECD. This year, when we come to the bottom part of the business cycle, we still have a growth rate of 1.7 percent. Now that party, when it left office during the Asian economic crisis, had the economy in recession. Members might remember that in 1998 that Government had to cut the pension, because the economy ran into recession. It had to put up student fees, because the economy went into recession. But under this party in Government we have grown the economy. It is so good that even when we are at the bottom part of the business cycle there is a 1.7 percent economic growth rate. Don Brash, the guy who was the Governor of the Reserve Bank, still has problems with GST; he could not work out the GST on his TV ads. He made a big thing about being on the committee that invented GST, but when it came to paying his bill he could not quite get his abacus to work out how much he was entitled to by way of the Broadcasting Act, which is why the National Party is in front of the police at the present time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000612\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EDon Brash made such a big thing about how he was going to be the great understander of the economy that he got up at \u014Crewa and said: \u201CGuess what? We are going to have a recession.\u201D Now, for the National back bench a recession is officially two quarters of negative growth in the economy, and Don Brash said we would get that. But if we go into the Budget we find we are at 1.7 percent of that cycle\u2014that whole wave. So it is extraordinary for National members to come here, having refused to engage in the economy during the election campaign, and now, when they think things are going a bit awry, they want to jump on board the peace train. However, the problem for them is that all the statistics and growth are on the side of Labour. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000613\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EI have heard National speakers in this debate say: \u201COh yes, we did talk about the economy in the election, because we promised huge tax cuts.\u201D Well, that is all fiscal policy. They offered the biggest tax-cut bribe in New Zealand history\u2014which did not add up. That is clear. They went around giving away free money and they still could not win the election, even though they tried to play the race card and give away free money. So those members went around the country on fiscal policy alone. They did not engage the Government on any of the other economic settings, which is why we are doing so strongly at the present time. Don Brash went to \u014Crewa, but with nothing to say. [Interruption] I will have a little drink. I saw Mr Blumsky\u2019s eyes light up at that line. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000614\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EAll these things will be happening this year, for the economic transformation we need. Now, what does it actually mean? First of all, the unemployment rate in this country is the lowest in the world. I do not know what National members think about having a job, but there is nothing more liberating for people than to have a job, draw a wage, and pay their bills\u2014and this country has the lowest rate of unemployment in the world. It is a great success for a Labour Government to be able to deliver that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000615\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EIn my electorate of Otaki unemployment fell by 30 percent in the last year alone. We have more people in work than ever before. That is a great thing for New Zealand. So what will happen by way of supporting families young and old? On 1 April this year we will see a massive expansion of the Working for Families package, with tax relief for people who actually need it. I see Gerry Brownlee over there, who has weathered well over the summer. Gerry Brownlee, under Don Brash\u2019s scheme, was going to get a $92-a-week tax cut, thanks to Don Brash. My constituents, the majority of whom earn under $30,000 per annum, would get nothing under National\u2019s scheme, except for10 bucks a week. Mrs Bennett shakes her head, because being a list member she would not know about constituents and people who are on the bones of their backsides, trying to get ahead. We do, and that is why families young and old get a deal under the Labour Party. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000616\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee wants his $92 a week. We know where that would go. I think it is fair to say it would be a consumption-led tax cut. We will invest the cut into families young and old, and 350,000 families will get it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000617\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220ec4bbb674a94010a090c1e87995ed85\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: Point of order\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000618\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223ff1257df6e4436db77e6740c29573b9\u0022\u003EDARREN HUGHES\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, the big man does not like it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000619\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e6b4dc55-3561-49a8-a871-ae005354ef90\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022db21442f47d84ed5b3529af1902e6342\u0022\u003EGerry Brownlee\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I have no particular point of order. I just thought the member needed a chance to breathe. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000620\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022806e87116fd74bbf997492a1f0f9f5e7\u0022\u003EDARREN HUGHES\u003C/span\u003E: I am always grateful to the member, and can I say that he looks so good sitting at the moment on the National back bench, trying out his new chair for when he gets rolled big-time, very certainly. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000621\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EFunnily enough, John Key has been a very miserable person in Parliament this week. Normally he comes in bouncing and smiling, saying \u201CGidday mate\u201D and talking to everybody. He has looked sour, despite the very interesting hair dye he has applied over the summer break, which is quite interesting I think. It is a rather unusual way to get some coverage\u2014a North and South requirement, probably. I was wondering who John Key was talking about when he said that a National front-bencher was \u201Cdoing him in\u201D. First of all I thought it might have been my neighbour to the north, Simon Power, because I know he is in a little bit of a positioning mode at the present time. But I thought, no, that would not be right. Simon is a very gentlemanly kind of person. He would not backstab anybody. Everybody blamed Gerry Brownlee. I do not know what it is when things go wrong, but people look at Mr Brownlee. It is a strange old thing. I do not think it was him, either. People say that it might have been Mr English, because he has that kind of Catholic thing, with \u201Ckeep hate alive\u201D, and he is still feeling bitter, so maybe it was Mr English. But I do not think it was him, either. I do not think anybody has been bad-mouthing John Key. I think John Key said that about himself, to get himself on the television news. I think John Key backstabbed himself in order to get himself a little bit more coverage, and I think it was very cruel of him to make a big fool of himself, and his colleagues, in that regard. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000622\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EThe other important thing that is happening for families young and old in March this year is that we are putting up the minimum wage to $10.25 an hour. We have lifted it from $7, when we became the Government. National, which complains about low wages in comparison with Australia, has opposed the rise of the minimum wage every single year, so let me ask its members this question: will they oppose the minimum wage going up in March? They do not know. They sit in Parliament all night and do not read their policies. We will put up the minimum wage to give working people a chance to get ahead and to do better. So there is the Working for Families package, and the minimum wage is going up, and they are leading to a much stronger economy for New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000623\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EThe other thing, of course, is that on 1 April we will increase the superannuation rate for pensioners. My colleagues have been very unfair to the Leader of the Opposition. They have been saying that he is \u201CDr Doom and Gloom\u201D. But I noticed Don Brash smile during one part of the Prime Minister\u2019s speech. When she said that the pension was going up, that old man smiled like a Cheshire cat. He saw that money going into his bank account and he wanted it. That was the one point he found attractive about the Prime Minister\u2019s statement. So for all our pensioners in New Zealand\u2014over half a million\u2014there will be a rise in their pension on 1 April. [Interruption] Bob Clarkson likes that; I know what he will do with that money. And for students, of course, the student loan policy, a very popular and very good policy, will come in on 1 April, as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000624\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003EWe move through to 1 July. What do we see then? People aged between 25 and 45 who visit primary health organisations will get cheaper access to primary health care. This is fantastic stuff. It is part of the Labour vision for health care. The asset-testing threshold will go up on 1 July, and the threshold for the rates rebate scheme, which will help so many low-income New Zealanders, will go up to $500 as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000625\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003ESo whether it is economic transformation, families young and old, or the building of a national identity so that Kiwis can feel proud about where we are in the South Pacific in the 21st century, Labour, under this Prime Minister, is doing great stuff. I know the Opposition hates it. I know they cannot stand this Prime Minister, because she is a successful Kiwi who loves her country, who does good by the people who live in this place, and who is leading us forward into the 21st century. This woman works so hard that, following three or four leaders of the Opposition down the track, she will still be here, boxing on, standing up for New Zealanders, and bringing about economic transformation, delivering for families young and old, and building a national identity we can be proud of. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022 data-id=\u0022eea6685d5c6e4df5b9062bd7cd1b5ba3\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022eea6685d5c6e4df5b9062bd7cd1b5ba3\u0022\u003EBRIAN CONNELL (National\u2014Rakaia):\u003C/span\u003E How does Darren Hughes do it? How does he hold his breath for 10 minutes, take a drink, and speak at the same time? It is quite extraordinary, is it not? While we are on the subject of the member for Otaki, I ask how a safe Labour seat with a big margin can be turned into a marginal seat? The answer is to give it to Darren Hughes, of course. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000627\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003ELabour owes the hard-working taxpayers of this country about half a million bucks\u2014money that it stole to fund its election campaign in 2005. There is no point in pointing the finger at anybody else, as the Labour Party speakers have done today, because not one but two official bodies have said the pledge card was an election expense. So the advice for Helen Clark is simple: cough up; give the money back. Is that not what any decent, reasonable person with a tiny bit of integrity would do\u2014just simply give the money back? To do otherwise would be to tarnish the reputation of every member of the Labour Party caucus. I am tempted to give that advice, but even I concede some people in that caucus do not deserve that reputation. It is simply a matter of doing the right thing. I ask members whether they remember the pledge card\u2014\u201CI signed it; I\u2019m accountable for it\u201D. Well, that suggests to me that any reasonable person knows what the course of action should be, which is that Labour does the right thing and sets the ledger square. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000628\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003EBut when it comes to matters of integrity it does not always go that way with our Prime Minister. Would it not be deliciously ironic if the Prime Minister used the excuse that she signed it, but she did not actually draft it? Every member of the Labour Party to date who has stood up and taken a call has tried to spread the blame, rather than take accountability for his or her actions. Labour members are working on the premise that if enough mud is thrown at the National Party, some of it may stick. But rather than accepting accountability, which is what the Prime Minister pledged Labour would do if it got back into power, it is reverting to type and blaming everybody else. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000629\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003EThe problem with that approach, other than that it is completely without honour, is that the Labour Party and the Labour Party alone has been named as being in breach of the regulations\u2014nobody else. The Prime Minister has been on notice on this issue since May 2005, when the Auditor-General finished a report, sent it to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and asked to have an audience with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, in order to deal with the matter and resolve it as a matter of urgency\u2014to fix it for once and for all. But, to her shame, the Prime Minister declined that request, and I have to say that on the evidence I have seen to date, the chief executive of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is complicit. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003EAt the steering committee this morning, the chief executive of the department was asked when and by whom he was made aware of this issue. He responded in May 2005, or thereabouts, and was advised by the Auditor-General personally. I asked whether he had briefed the Prime Minister. He said he had mentioned it to someone, but he could not remember to whom. There was no file note. He had no recollection of the person he had spoken to, and he was very clear that he did not brief the Prime Minister. That is despite Mr Wevers, the chief executive, writing the following in the department\u2019s annual report, regarding the second point of responsibility that the department has: \u201CThe second is policy advice provided across the range of issues that arise in the conduct of government business. As the political head of the government, the Prime Minister requires a comprehensive overview of emerging policy issues and ongoing government activity, as well as access to information on any and all issues that arise.\u201D He steadfastly said that he did not think that this issue was important enough to brief the Prime Minister on, yet he wrote in the annual report that providing such advice was one of his key responsibilities. It beggars belief. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003EBut what is more incredible is Winston Peters\u2019 defence of this Government. Am I missing something, or what? Was it not 2 or 3 months ago, when Bob Clarkson kicked Winston Peters\u2019 backside out of Tauranga, that Winston Peters cried foul and said anyone who supposedly blew his or her budget was a demon who should be dragged before the courts, and that due process should take place? Winston Peters tried to vilify Bob Clarkson, and now he has the temerity to stand up and say that the Government has acted with integrity. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000632\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003EYesterday Mr Peters told the House that in Chinese culture this was the Year of the Dog. He would know, would he not, because he has become the Prime Minister\u2019s personal pit bull terrier? He savages National at every opportunity, regardless of the fact that his colleagues all around him are cringing. Mr Peters is an old dog, who has slowed up somewhat. The wily old fox, the Prime Minister, has got him exactly where she wants him, which is out of the country more often than not, and with a job with responsibilities so that he actually has to do something. When New Zealand First does not have Winston Peters in attack mode, it is only a shadow of its former self. Being preoccupied with that has drawn the New Zealand First members\u2019 teeth. I say that Mr Peters has betrayed his caucus colleagues\u2014it is about time that someone told him this\u2014that he has betrayed his voting public, and that I think he has condemned his colleagues to the political scrap heap, come the next election. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000633\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003EThe argument has been put that this is a fragile Government coalition, and it is\u2014primarily because of the notorious volatility of Winston Peters\u2014[Interruption] He is a man who was attracted to the baubles of office, but he is notoriously unreliable and unstable. He is like a pit bull terrier: people never know when he will turn on them. But I do not think that the Government will fall over. I think this is the proposition: because Winston Peters had his backside kicked in Tauranga, by virtue of the great efforts of my colleague Bob Clarkson\u2014a tremendous outcome, against all the odds; an outstanding achievement\u2014he was a man who was desperate for a lifeline, and the Prime Minister, who had her political instincts very well honed, sensed that and told Winston Peters that if he supported this Government, she would make him the ambassador to London when New Zealand First gets condemned to the scrap heap. That, in my view, is exactly what will transpire. Winston Peters, being in a desperate state, grabbed that offer in both paws. So when he stands up and gums the bones of the National Party, I allow myself a wry smile, because I reflect on a politician who was once a real firedog, but who is now withering on the leash. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000634\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003EOne of my contentions is that it is OK for the Government to articulate how successful it is when things have been good, but what is the strategy now that things will get tough economically? I was looking for some direction from the Prime Minister to address that issue, and I believe the country was waiting for that direction, as well, and we were disappointed. We were not surprised, but we were disappointed. We will be looking to take the Government to task over the next 3 years on that issue alone.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022 data-id=\u002240558fce25bd4ba1b4c0a8755ad722cb\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000635\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002240558fce25bd4ba1b4c0a8755ad722cb\u0022\u003EDARIEN FENTON (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E I am proud to speak in this debate. I feel privileged to be part of a Government that has acted early to implement its key election promises, just as it has done every election since it was first elected in 1999. This Government has already made a huge commitment to transforming our economy; to providing security and opportunity for families, young and old; and to building pride in the unique national identity of New Zealanders. Our programme for this term and beyond as spelt out in our Prime Minister\u2019s speech will ensure that this Government continues to make a real difference for the next 3 years, the next 3 years after that, and another 3 years\u2014on and on. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000636\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003EIt has been strange to sit on this side of the House and hear the National Party lament the state of wages for New Zealand workers. I did not know the National Party was trying to be the workers\u2019 friend; that would be a first. It certainly has not been until now, and I know that workers throughout New Zealand will have difficulty believing that the leopard has changed its spots\u2014or, should I say, that the lame duck has changed its quack. While we are talking about accountability, I am still waiting to hear National members own up to the responsibility they bear for driving wages down when they were last in Government in the 1990s. Typically, we have heard no new ideas from Dr Brash about how to increase wages or improve the economy, other than the tired old prescriptions he learnt in a neo-liberal economic theory decades ago. The world has moved on, I say to Dr Brash, but the National Party remains stuck in the last century. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000637\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003EDr Brash talks vaguely about increasing productivity. Let us be clear about the National Party\u2019s version of productivity\u2014that is, work harder for lower wages in unskilled, dead-end jobs. That was the policy of the 1990s. There was no investment in training in skills, there was the killing off of apprenticeships, and the privatisation of industry training. And those members wonder why wages have slipped and we still have a critical skills shortage! Productivity under National means restructuring, lay-offs, and work intensification. National does not believe that workers have any interest in productivity, and believes that the control of it should all be handed to business on a plate through a set of vicious work rules. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000638\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003ELet us be clear: there will not be any interest among New Zealand workers in National\u2019s approach towards improving productivity, if it is to come through labour-market arrangements that favour employers so that businesses grow and the benefits trickle down. We tried that, do people remember? And the benefits trickled up, and flooded out of the country. John Key, the wonder boy of the National Party, has the same last-century views about the labour market. The last time National tried doing this with the Employment Contracts Act and other poverty-enhancing measures, they embedded a low-wage mentality that still endures among some employers. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000639\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003ESo what is different about today\u2019s National Party prescription? The only mantra National members can think up is the difference between Australian wages and our own. It is easy to hold up graphs, but that does not tell the real story. Let us do some comparisons. Tax is not cheaper in Australia; the top tax rate in Australia is 47 percent. Additional taxes include a stamp duty on a home purchase, medical levies, payroll taxes, and accident compensation charges that are twice those of New Zealanders. Conditions for Australian workers are well ahead of ours, so the cost of doing business is more expensive, although\u2014thanks to this Labour Government\u2014we are catching up on some of those things. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000640\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003EThe minimum wage is equivalent to NZ$13.85 an hour, and it is underpinned by a strong award system. Most workers stay on the minimum wage for only a short period of time before moving on to higher wages. Minimum sick leave is higher than ours, annual leave has been at 4 weeks for years, and there is a minimum 9 percent employer contribution to superannuation. There are casual loadings, long-service leave, and leave loadings. Why is that? What is the difference between New Zealand and Australia? It is that Australia did not introduce the Employment Contracts Act during the 1990s\u2014surprise, surprise\u2014along with other punitive measures designed to reduce the cost of labour. Compared with increases in wages in Australia through the 1990s, wage increases in New Zealand were tiny. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000641\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003EThat is the real reason wages are behind; it is National\u2019s legacy, and this Government is having to fix it. I want to know whether National is serious about bridging the gap between New Zealand and Australia, because if it is, it will support the minimum wage going up to $12 an hour and support the youth minimum wage bill going to a select committee next week. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000642\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003EIt will be interesting to see whether the Australian Government\u2019s industrial relations reforms will have the desired effect of reducing wages and conditions by forcing workers into a similar situation that National did with New Zealand workers in the 1990s. That is one way of catching up with Australia, I guess\u2014where wages are driven down by draconian industrial reform. I suspect we will see a lot of workers wanting to come back to New Zealand over the next couple of years, because we will look good beside John Howard\u2019s reforms. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000643\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003EThis Government believes we have a responsibility to assist families, young and old, and workers on modest incomes. I do not know who the Opposition talks to out in the community, but the families I talk to have welcomed the Working for Families initiatives, and I am delighted that the confidence and supply agreements that Labour has entered into mean that low-paid workers can look forward to a minimum wage at $12 an hour by 2008, should economic conditions permit. Those same workers have had the minimum wage increased by 46 percent since Labour became the Government, and the chronic low pay that many have experienced is well on the way to being addressed through this Government\u2019s policies. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000644\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003EAround 77 percent of families with dependent children will qualify for Working for Families, and the dramatic effect it will have on child poverty in New Zealand is the most significant thing the Government has done to address the inequities that were exacerbated in the 1990s. It has been rather tiresome, I think, to sit here and listen to the National Party\u2019s tired themes of tax cuts for the rich, punishing those not so well off by making cuts in health and welfare, attacking M\u0101ori, and reducing workers\u2019 rights. Tax cuts are great news if one is rich. When National cut taxes twice in the mid-1990s, most of the $2 billion tax cuts, or 71 percent, went to the highest earners. I have no doubt that if the present Opposition were now in Government\u2014and thank goodness it is not\u2014we would not be debating increases for working families, or introducing new policies that will improve the lives of families. We would be debating cutting holidays, reducing minimum wages, and reducing workers\u2019 rights on the back of tax cuts for the rich. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000645\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003EI do feel a bit sorry for the new National members. I do not want to hold you totally to blame for what happened in the 1990s, but you do need to understand that what your party did\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000646\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a83cc76f6a96483da6553193eff5530c\u0022\u003EAnne Tolley\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I do not think the member should be using the word \u201Cyou\u201D. She is actually addressing you, Madam Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000647\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fd15e7e20b914cf5b9f3cd8f90cc7ef9\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: That is right. The member should not bring the Speaker into it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000648\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a40f5af7-f9b0-4b44-9669-9e63be1c3ced\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a867887da51b4bc5a56b4bfcdf8b3be6\u0022\u003EDARIEN FENTON\u003C/span\u003E: I do not hold the new National members accountable for all the things that happened in the 1990s, but I will hold them accountable if they do not do something about the dreadful policies that their party continues to advocate. [Interruption] By the way, can I just tell the member opposite that the South Auckland working people voted for Labour. I am sorry that she is not on this side of the Chamber, but the South Auckland working people voted for this Government. She can lament all she likes, but they know who is on their side.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022 data-id=\u002239b7feaa68e846caa58703bb87e7ddf3\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000649\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002239b7feaa68e846caa58703bb87e7ddf3\u0022\u003EDr JONATHAN COLEMAN (National\u2014Northcote):\u003C/span\u003E That hard-core, left-wing, unionist rant certainly will not increase the credibility of Dr Cullen\u2019s financial team and policies\u2014he must have been cringing in his seat, having to listen to that sort of stuff. It really was like a historical relic, something from the north of England, maybe. Putting up with that was like being at a unionist meeting back in the 1960s, and it certainly was entertaining being on this side of the House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000650\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EBut there is no question that this Labour Government has now been shown to be entirely rotten to the core. New Zealanders have heard all the excuses. We have had to put up with \u201Cpaintergate\u201D, we have been expected to swallow a load of rubbish about speeding motorcades in Timaru, we have had to shrug our shoulders over \u201CDoone-gate\u201D, and now Labour expects New Zealand to believe another tall story over the pledge card. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000651\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EIt is funny, is it not? If Bob Clarkson had been found to have spent $1 more than his $20,000 allowed for electoral expenses, he would have lost his seat, been kicked out, faced a massive fine, and lost his reputation. Labour uses $450,000 of taxpayers\u2019 money to solicit votes, and what is the response? Its members say that it is no big deal; they have done it for three elections and, well, the electoral law is a bit unclear in that area. I can tell members that the law is not unclear, and Labour has to front up, pay up, and take its medicine. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000652\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EThe flip side of this deviousness on the part of Labour is its opportunism, its sheer lack of principle, and its grasping for power that goes unabated. What most New Zealanders would have found galling, if they had even bothered to listen to that speech from the Prime Minister yesterday, was this quote: \u201CThere is an evolving New Zealand way of doing things, and a stronger New Zealand identity is emerging. It is important to develop that distinctive New Zealand style, identity, and set of community values. As a Government we will continue to prioritise policies that contribute to a strong sense of national identity.\u201D She talked about Labour\u2019s New Zealand way. In other words, the message is clear: \u201CNew Zealanders, your national identity is going to be cooked up on the ninth floor of the Beehive for you. You are going to be told how you feel as New Zealanders and you are not going to have a choice in the matter.\u201D I can tell members that if Labour thinks it can define national identity in this country, it has got another think coming. New Zealanders have always been strong and independent, and, frankly, the people of this country do not need the Government to tell them who they are or how they will behave. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000653\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EAs Labour continues to engineer our society, it is also going to claim credit for every little bit of stuff that it can along the way. Whether it is the Rugby World Cup\u2014never mind the fact that the Prime Minister cannot stand rugby\u2014or it is a blockbuster movie that we have made in this country, we will find that this Government claims the credit. The Labour Government is determined to muscle in and get some of the reflected glory. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000654\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EBut, unfortunately for this Government, the real job of Government is to grow the economy and to lay out a vision that it can act on. Frankly, the members over there on the Treasury benches have not got a clue. Today in question time it was actually embarrassing for the Prime Minister. Dr Brash asked the Prime Minister if she could name one economist\u2014just one\u2014who believes that the policies of this current Government are going to grow productivity in New Zealand to the point where our incomes overtake Australia\u2019s in 10, 20, or even 30 years. She could not name a single one.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000655\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022acba613de43c44d285821332073cdf18\u0022\u003EBrian Connell\u003C/span\u003E: Are you sure?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000656\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221138b5bf02d345d4812a25e1c4705640\u0022\u003EDr JONATHAN COLEMAN\u003C/span\u003E: Well, it is just possible that she does not know the name of any economists\u2014after all, this Government is not keen on expert advice. Treasury told it, in the briefing to the incoming Government, that it was not on the right track, but the Government did not want to hear about it. What was the advice? It was to get rid of the carbon tax, revamp the Resource Management Act, and cut personal and company tax. After pressure from the National Party\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000657\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224ff3e092-9caa-44d9-9171-5c8fca280d96\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022957d55b06f8a4ec081cf6da5e1646f90\u0022\u003EMark Blumsky\u003C/span\u003E: The carbon tax has gone?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000658\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229ca276c51cbd4e7e8631e43fc2b0cf7f\u0022\u003EDr JONATHAN COLEMAN\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, the carbon tax did go. The Resource Management Act remains a massive problem. This Government tells us that, yes, it will be reviewing business tax and it will put things out to public consultation. Well, it is pretty simple: business tax needs to be cut right now to ensure productivity. Unfortunately, tax cuts to grow the economy are an ideological step too far. The sad fact is that the experts in the field of economics just do not agree with the Prime Minister and the Labour Government. But Treasury agrees with Dr Brash that there are certain steps that we have to take to grow this economy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000659\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EIt was pretty interesting yesterday when the Prime Minister spoke. Frankly, members over there on the Treasury benches looked pretty bored\u2014not too animated\u2014but, boy, did they get animated when Dr Brash stood up to speak. Why? Because they know that Dr Brash is on the right track and, despite what they say, they know that Dr Brash is the one leader in this country who can connect with the New Zealand people. Labour knows that it is getting sadly out of touch and I think it might be time that some of those Labour death row members went out and spoke to people in their electorates. They would be interested in some of the stuff they would hear. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000660\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EActually, quite a few of them do not have electorates. It is interesting that if one goes to a few parties around Wellington, one can hear candidates further down the Labour list insisting they will be in this House by the end of the year. That must make Labour MPs feel great, if they lost their seats and came in on the list. Perhaps, like Dr Sutton over there, they are in the departure lounge for, maybe, Niue\u2014if they are lucky. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000661\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EIt is a sad fact that this Government has got so out of touch. We heard a bit before about Working for Families. I can tell members that New Zealanders do not want middle-class welfare. They do not want to be made into beneficiaries. They want the opportunity to stand on their own two feet. Unfortunately, Labour just does not get that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000662\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220bfa5b74-8933-458a-99d4-bbd75d9898d0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c97aaa8aa63a4e359119b2f08d83ee16\u0022\u003EChris Auchinvole\u003C/span\u003E: They don\u2019t like that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000663\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002277d4f7cc79974c52b991a81b97600913\u0022\u003EDr JONATHAN COLEMAN\u003C/span\u003E: They do not like it at all. I can also tell members that on the day that the people in South Auckland switch on to the fact that Labour does not actually represent their interests\u2014that Labour is totally out of line with their values\u2014the Labour Party will be gone, and it will be gone for a very, very long time. The Labour Party that one sees now does not represent its traditional constituency. For too long Labour Party supporters have shown faith in that party. They have had to suffer all sorts of changes in philosophy and direction. Helen Clark could tell loyal Labour Party supporters that the Government was starting labour camps and they would think it was great because it would mean that there were more jobs. I do not know about some of those supporters. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000664\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022603ae58e-47c4-46f9-bfc8-8355a48988ad\u0022\u003EThis pledge card debacle is just one more nail for this Government. Labour has stitched together a ragged coalition of the discredited. It talks about our talking the country down. I can say this: give Labour another term and it will have taken the country down. There is no better way to talk the country down than by sending Winston Peters overseas to represent us. The Prime Minister cannot find an economist to back her up, because there is no economic plan and there is no vision to back up. We all know in this Chamber that this is the last Labour Government we will see for a very, very long time, and that will be the saving of this country.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022 data-id=\u0022d4672c2c9654434d91d9c3f2273e0af5\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000665\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022d4672c2c9654434d91d9c3f2273e0af5\u0022\u003EMARTIN GALLAGHER (Labour\u2014Hamilton West):\u003C/span\u003E What wishful thinking! In fact, we heard that comment, made in hope, from a number of members of that party back in 2002. We also heard it back in 1999. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000666\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EI was walking down Lambton Quay today and I was looking at a copy of North and South magazine that had the headline: \u201CNational Velvet\u201D. I thought it was something about Elizabeth Taylor. I thought it was one of those reruns. The star of that movie was Elizabeth Taylor, who has been suitored six or seven times. But no, it was not. I had another look. It was not about Elizabeth Taylor; it was about John Key. What was obvious\u2014I have not read the article yet\u2014was that the John Key machine, or what there is of it, was getting the rumour mill going and starting the positioning. To the idea that Mr Key is under angst because he was somehow destabilising the leadership at their Taup\u014D retreat, I say: \u201CExcuse me!\u201D. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000667\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EI know that the member who has just resumed his seat is from Northcote and that, like me, he occasionally reads the Dominion Post. I do not often agree with the Dominion Post, but I found that the editorial on 9 February was interesting when it stated\u2014and it is one of the most conservative newspapers in this country\u2014that Dr Brash and his colleagues had not got off to a good start in 2006. I quote from that newspaper: \u201CHis caucus retreat should be concentrating on how to make Miss Clark unhappy. Instead it is too publicly devoting too much of its energy to the jockeying\u201D\u2014including that \u201CNational Velvet\u201D\u2014\u201Camong Dr Brash\u2019s senior colleagues over who should be his replacement. Dr Brash knows how destabilising that sort of thing can be to a leader, and that gossip and rumour can be destructive.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000668\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EThis is what was stated by the Dominion Post, a conservative journal in this country. I continue: \u201CThere are good reasons for Dr Brash\u2019s leadership to be under question. National went close in 2005, but there are no prizes for second place in politics. There were gaffes, and Dr Brash was responsible for a good number of them. He was embarrassingly unfamiliar with his own party\u2019s policy, and he failed to handle the revelation that the party had received support from the Exclusive Brethren with anything approaching the deft aplomb that was needed. The obvious successor is finance spokesman, John Key, but he is so far not showing the appropriate skills in pursuing what he has made all too evident is his ambition.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000669\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EThe editorial goes on to state that National has vast experience of doing these things quietly, and that usually when it has a coup it is quiet, it happens in the dead of night, and the knives are drawn like in some sort of Roman drama\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000670\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bf6eb60f0c174b4ea1a763d94567055a\u0022\u003EDarren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I am sorry to interrupt my colleague, but I notice that there are members in the gallery who are interjecting on the proceedings of the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000671\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ae99157ebec24955861a2d1bf421f9df\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: I did not hear that, but members in the gallery will not do that. Please be quiet.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000672\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d304187b1abc4dafb4ca5472d985aa84\u0022\u003EMARTIN GALLAGHER\u003C/span\u003E: I can only assume that some of the National members are up in the gallery and have not realised that they need to come down to the Chamber if they wish to interject. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000673\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EThe editorial goes on to state: \u201CMr Key\u2019s strategy appears to be to do his own destabilising, and to allow his willingness to take over to be obvious well before the ground has been prepared.\u201D He needs more than the front-page of a glossy calling him \u201CNational Velvet\u201D for that ground to be prepared. \u201CThis betrays an impatience and a political naivety that suggests he is not yet ready to tangle with Miss Clark.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000674\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EThis year, 2006, we will see the unfolding of this great drama between Mr Key and the other contender for the leadership\u2014not Mr Brownlee because he is trying out some back-bench seats, or else he is moving around the back bench tonight to stay close. That is what a beleaguered leader does. He or she moves around and stays close to the back bench to see what the back-bench members are thinking and saying. The Dominion Post goes on to state: \u201CAdding to the mix is the prospect that former leader Bill English may believe that he can become New Zealand\u2019s John Howard, and return from the political wilderness to become leader again. National\u2019s MPs need to remember that voters do not elect parties that are unable to govern themselves. So far, they show little sign of grasping that.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000675\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EAll I have heard this evening in the speeches from the other side of the House, as speakers on this side have mentioned, is incredible and appalling doom and gloom, incredible negativity, and an incredible selling-down of their country. What a pleasure it is to be a member of a positive and progressive Government that actually has a vision for this country and knows where we are going. This Government is on a roll and on the road, unlike the members opposite, who have to go to retreats in Taup\u014D. We on this side of the House know that they are concerned about their future leadership. We would give Dr Brash a matter of months, and the reason he is still there is only that the two major contenders do not yet have the numbers sorted to make that inevitable push\u2014which will come. That is as obvious as night follows day. I am proud to be a member of a Government\u2014[Interruption] Obviously, a prominent member of this Parliament has just joined us\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bbc4aaf80a0642548154b32c3b86356a\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: I am sorry to interrupt the member. I ask that the gallery be cleared. People have been warned once about interrupting proceedings. I refer to the people who were clapping. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000677\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003EA disturbance took place in the gallery. The gallery was cleared on the instruction of the Assistant Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000678\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c8fb48f9b6884599915f3b671cbe1cfb\u0022\u003EMARTIN GALLAGHER\u003C/span\u003E: I am not sure whether they were cheering. I hope they are not from my Labour electorate committee.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000679\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002201999affdbd2464cbfc6a55bdd5dc880\u0022\u003EBrian Connell\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. In fairness to my parliamentary colleague, I think he should be given an extra 2 or 3 minutes to repeat those last few lines, because I certainly did not hear them. He was interrupted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000680\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226fdc6ad9bb15452399510473a8cc1b93\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: Please continue, Mr Gallagher.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000681\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220e610df5bcf441928e15f35aa4e2dc46\u0022\u003EMARTIN GALLAGHER\u003C/span\u003E: I thank Brian Connell for his genuineness and kindness. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000682\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002200176813b1454f83bd872f054a001b39\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: Ha, ha!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000683\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226a33c01cb66e468bbc0bec573566dea2\u0022\u003EMARTIN GALLAGHER\u003C/span\u003E: I have a lot of time for that member actually, because he is an outspoken advocate. I do not agree with some of his philosophy, but I served on the Law and Order Committee with that member, and he was a good and hard-working member, and I think, frankly, that the members opposite should value him better. I think he captures the real spirit of the National Party: the outspoken maverick. In fact, we had one Mike Minogue as a predecessor in Hamilton West\u2014he was a good, outspoken member\u2014and we had Dr Shearer and Marilyn Waring. I think that that member comes out of that stable, and it is sad to see how little this miserable old National Party values an outspoken member who is prepared to call the shots as he sees them and give a bit of character and oomph into this Parliament. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000684\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EI want to take the time I have left to compliment the Prime Minister on what I thought was an absolutely brilliant speech. I am so proud to be a part of a Government that is overseeing an economy where unemployment is at a record low, with the latest international consumer confidence survey finding New Zealand the second most optimistic country in the world. People would not believe it if they heard the doom and gloom merchants on the other side of the House, but fundamentally we are on a roll in this country. The latest merchandise trade figures reported a rebound in exports and a fall in import values. December\u2019s dwelling consent figures were on the upside, inflation was down, and our fiscal position is sound. But it does not stop there. That is just the good and wonderful base. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000685\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EOn 1 April, as has been mentioned by speakers on this side of the House, it will be wonderful to see a big extension to our Working for Families package, whereby 60,000 more people will become eligible, so that 350,000 families will be entitled to family tax relief in 2006. That is what we are doing to help families, unlike the sneering from the doom and gloom merchants on the other side. We are increasing the rate of superannuation, and members opposite should hang their heads in shame because the last time they were near the Treasury benches, lest we ever forget, they cut superannuation. Of course, the big winner with our young people and their parents is that no interest will be payable on student loans for those who stay in New Zealand. What a profound and wonderful investment in our young people! What a wonderful investment in the future of our country! \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000686\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223a0e52c8-5bb1-4325-9870-21f4e3eb3702\u0022\u003EThen on 1 July it gets better. There will be big improvements in the rates rebates scheme easing the burden of rates on many superannuitants and others on modest incomes. But it gets even better. The next phase of the roll-out of more affordable primary care occurs, extending lower doctors\u2019 fees and prescription fees, through the primary health organisations, to 45 to 64-year-olds. Members opposite can laugh but that is better still. I am so proud to be a member of such a wonderful, progressive Government with vision for this country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022 data-id=\u0022319b999d6aed45b3a81a5eb3655aef44\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000687\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c598ffd3-4771-4027-a15f-5d1f643631e0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022319b999d6aed45b3a81a5eb3655aef44\u0022\u003EBRIAN CONNELL (National\u2014Rakaia):\u003C/span\u003E raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I thought that was a very constructive speech. I had a sense that the member had a little bit more to contribute, so I seek leave of the House to give him another 10 minutes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000688\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002292d83f35056e4ee8be6d946ee70d841a\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: The member knows that he cannot seek leave for another member.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022 data-id=\u002276fbcf0d445748ce8415e0e96b18ed32\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000689\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002276fbcf0d445748ce8415e0e96b18ed32\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON (National\u2014Tauranga):\u003C/span\u003E I have a few notes written here tonight, but I have had to add one. I will read it out: \u201CThat side of the House is like a tyre going flat\u2014a lot of hot air escaping and heading nowhere.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000690\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003EI sat yesterday and listened to the speech from the leader of the country, the Rt Hon Helen Clark. I must say I was upset to hear all the fluffy talk. There was a list of excuses trying to justify the past but no vision for the future. I have said it many times before, and I will say it again: the country is on a slippery slope, downhill. Nothing was heard yesterday to change my mind.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000691\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003ELet us take the police, for instance. The police are so busy dealing with the misdeeds of the Prime Minister, who is speeding around the country, signing pictures she did not paint, and going crazy with taxpayers\u2019 cheque books to promote the Labour Party, they have very little time to deal with crime. The police are so busy with the Prime Minister\u2019s affairs it is no wonder they cannot find time to sort out the Mongrel Mob in my electorate. It appears to me that Labour members and the leader of the country are serial lawbreakers.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000692\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003EMr Mike Williams, the Labour Party President, is helping the police with their inquiries. I know that he will be very helpful to the police, because Mr Williams showed a touching concern about issues of overspending when he was helping Mr Winston Raymond Peters in his failed bid in Tauranga. Mr Williams found the time to help out Winston Raymond Peters, when it seems he should have been looking closer to home and checking his own party\u2019s books. I just mention at this time that I have a folder with me, which is the petition. It is possibly worth $80,000 now. I am also certain that when it is proved in court that the Labour Party used taxpayers\u2019 money to overspend illegally in the last election, all its members will be gentlemen and ladies\u2014and possibly others\u2014and resign from Parliament immediately. It was pointed out to me in the Tauranga case that if I had been found to have overspent by $1, I would no longer be a member of this Parliament. I would be prohibited from standing for election again. I think in fairness we should use that as a guideline, so that Labour members, both list and electorate, should resign immediately if it is proved that their party raided taxpayers\u2019 funds to massively overspend the limit.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000693\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003EWe, of course, look forward to another election in those Labour-held seats. We might be hoping in vain. They are strangers to the truth. I listened to the speech made yesterday by the previous member for Tauranga.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000694\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229af672af480147b68b5db170d63d2b47\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Who was that? What was his name? Winston Raymond Peters?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000695\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022693f349c0bce45159b2b3c6b7e4a58d6\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON\u003C/span\u003E: No, it was the Rt Hon Winston Peters. I would like to have a little chat about the Rt Hon\u2014Winston Peters. I nearly forgot his name! He is pushing very hard for the waka-jumping bill. It certainly gives me the idea that he is worried about the loyalty of his party\u2019s members. I can understand those members feeling slightly disloyal, with the way Winston has been acting lately. The \u201CPrince of Baubles\u201D cannot get loyalty by good leadership, so he wants to make it illegal for them to leave. Real leaders do not need to use the law to get loyalty. I can understand why New Zealand First members might want to jump ship.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000696\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003EI can also understand why members of the Labour Party would not want to jump ship. National would not have them, for a start. But if they did jump ship, it would increase the IQ of the Labour Party and lower that of the National Party. I think Muldoon said that, did he not?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000697\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003EBut I come back to the former member for Tauranga, the Rt Hon Winston Peters\u2014the Tauranga loser. By the way, that is now on his CV, and soon he will be a loser again when he pays me a few bucks. He did not stop whingeing after the court case was decided, and he continues to make allegations about my integrity and honesty. Well, he has a problem, because those remarks were made outside the House so no doubt he will be pleased to pay for them later.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000698\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223f3191d89b5043fc99d4d284de561edb\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Is the bankruptcy notice filed yet?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000699\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d2884790b2c24aaaa1f17b9f5fd4b40f\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON\u003C/span\u003E: Yes. I can hear the sound of cheque books closing all over Tauranga\u2014the cheque books that funded his indiscretions during and after the election. He should have a few more drinks and just get his head around the fact that the election is over. He has lost. The \u201CPrince of Baubles\u201D has got to grow up and be a man, take the lesson on the chin, and realise he is a has-been in Tauranga.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000700\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003EBut let me get back to this hopeless Government. Its members cannot blame anybody else but themselves for the state the country is in. The health system has gone down the drain over the last 6 years and is not performing. Who was the Government for the last 6 years?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000701\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002272b351b61dbe445a94b863bae7208fd7\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: The Labour Party!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000702\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229845143062ee458dbebb6298aa2d02a5\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON\u003C/span\u003E: Who is to blame for the poor health services?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000703\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229b00f390e2f743bf95766fb6cb237a81\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: The Labour Party!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000704\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d9602a8d8f5b4bf98d42da880058e604\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON\u003C/span\u003E: Who were taken for mugs?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000705\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e8d53a5b5dfd4495928350a8707e4f88\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: The taxpayers!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000706\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e8cb0e40b967481d896c4ad9b5af5e63\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON\u003C/span\u003E: Apprenticeships have gone out the window in the last 6 years. Who was the Government in the last 6 years?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000707\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220726546495fd47508c6088d640f7438c\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: The Labour Party!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000708\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ef14adfe3112487aae8cebd23e390a12\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON\u003C/span\u003E: Who wasted money on stupid courses and dim ideas?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000709\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ba94420e5e1c40dda6fad21f2eb7c07e\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: The Labour Party!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000710\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f77039a61c2548a494641677e0cf112f\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON\u003C/span\u003E: Who paid for those stupid courses?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000711\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002270d387409b824aa4864edb25f9cf4699\u0022\u003EHon Members\u003C/span\u003E: The taxpayer!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000712\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022017a69be12714935937df95bc6c794e1\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON\u003C/span\u003E: The taxpayer has been shafted by Labour, left, right, and centre.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000713\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003EI would like to mention a couple of things in a more positive way, because I do not like being negative, actually. Unfortunately, when one is dealing with negative people it is a bit awkward. I refer to the country\u2019s roading. We keep talking about production, and Labour keeps talking about building platforms. Well, those platforms must be big, because Labour has been building them for 6 years. They must be like a big ship in the sea. Transport is the main thing for production. If there are no roads there is no production, because one cannot get from A to B. So for goodness\u2019 sake, I say to the Government, start building some roads in a decent manner\u2014get the fuel tax out of the consolidated account and let us get some action!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000714\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003EThe Government keeps raving on about houses, and I hear that the Hon Michael Cullen has been raving on about a few things I said about housing in my maiden speech, when I referred to National spending billions of dollars on housing if it got in\u2014with Don Brash\u2019s approval, of course; he will be our leader for years to come.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000715\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c437bda8-4741-4ac5-89ab-b0818e1ab9fa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e5999ef8815f4b4ab54b6ea0231e9956\u0022\u003EDarren Hughes\u003C/span\u003E: They didn\u2019t clap that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000716\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002274bfbb621ca1451884627b5a3298446a\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON\u003C/span\u003E: They understand. National will be coming out with a policy on housing and we will get the job done. Labour is failing miserably.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000717\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002263776108-58dc-4cab-baf1-95282c61d0de\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226ae2418bc501466383777ebc8540bc52\u0022\u003EPaula Bennett\u003C/span\u003E: Sock it to \u2019em, Bob.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000718\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f73bfaad79c24a1b989b61007e9331dd\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON\u003C/span\u003E: No, I have not got too much more to say, really. But when I collect the money from Winston Peters\u2014he has had his 12 days to pay it\u2014all National Party members are invited along for a few free drinks. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000719\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c29d9cb1269544c4b0afa211a310845a\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Have you told Winston that, in exchange?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000720\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022909c825c-6cf3-49bd-9c74-6df837480631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c3d7babdbc514ee19d1e7b10da957a75\u0022\u003EBOB CLARKSON\u003C/span\u003E: I would invite Winston, but as he might drink too much I will not do that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022 data-id=\u0022cccb55abee3a4bcb8b21f7ee610ec06f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000721\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022cccb55abee3a4bcb8b21f7ee610ec06f\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR (Minister of Corrections):\u003C/span\u003E If listeners did not know, that was the best speech of the night from the National Party, and it came from one of the young, up-and-coming, dynamic National Party MPs who have come into the House, Mr Bob Clarkson. Tired old MPs\u2014people like Brian Connell, who has been tossed aside\u2014will be worried that people like Mr Clarkson have come in to take over and push them out of the way. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000722\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EThe other tired old person in the National Party who should be worried is the leader, Mr Don Brash. Well, it would not be fair for me to use my own words, but it would be fair to use Dr Brash\u2019s words. Let me quote: \u201CIf I deliver I\u2019m secure. If I don\u2019t deliver I\u2019m history.\u201D Well, Don, you are history. You have it bang on. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000723\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EWe have had a couple of other fine, honest speeches in the House tonight. One was from Mr Coleman. He said: \u201CDon\u2019s on the right track.\u201D Well, you are on the track, Don, but you are on the rails\u2014a bit like the Kelburn cable car that Mr Blumsky over there is so proud of. You are heading downhill very, very quickly and you should look around behind you. Look around, Don\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000724\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226a177b077ba64b58a481cf15966a694c\u0022\u003EAnne Tolley\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Once again we have the Chair being brought into the discussion. The Minister should know better.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000725\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002285c590e2b6c041c6b93a4283e74fc697\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: We have been a bit lenient tonight. A number of members have done that on several occasions.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000726\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c6c91ca31a21429da71a0bd1798b10ef\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: I apologise. Don Brash\u2019s days are numbered because the National Party, under his leadership, cannot work out what it stands for. It cannot work out a direction. It has flip-flopped over every single policy that it has laid down in front of the people of this country, with the most recent being the nuclear ships policy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000727\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EWe know that Murray McCully is the last of the loony liberals. Murray McCully has been known for years and years as being a closet liberal. Well, he finally came out of the closet the other day and said: \u201CI think that our nuclear policy is a load of codswallop.\u201D I think Murray McCully is right. The problem is that Don Brash, Lockwood Smith, and all the National Party members went out on the hustings and said: \u201CWe will stick to our nuclear policy.\u201D, because they think they need guidance from the US in all things. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000728\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022659f6556-09a1-4ead-bc52-05cbdb4eaab8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223199068839e948fbb02053521fa8b599\u0022\u003ECraig Foss\u003C/span\u003E: Let\u2019s talk about prisons.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000729\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b8b53437dd814b61bbad66e6dddf85a5\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: I will talk about prisons in a moment. I am very happy to talk about prisons. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000730\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EOn M\u0101ori policy, Treaty issues, and asset sales National has done a flip-flop. You name it\u2014the National Party flip-flops on everything, like a colony of barking seals, every time. Every time National lays down a policy before the people of New Zealand someone will pipe up and say: \u201CNo, sorry, we have got to change that.\u201D Well, when the National Party can establish an identity, and it has a leader who has support from each and every one of its members, then maybe it will make some progress. In the meantime we will lead this country into the future in the same way that we have led it for the last 6 years. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000731\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EOf course, not everything the National Party does is a flip-flop; the \u014Crewa III speech was just a flop. I tell Don that that was just a flop. Mr Coleman exposed himself\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000732\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b52fc27c7c2e4cb283eb32c57d69b7f4\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: Dr Coleman.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000733\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221b794dcb889f46eba6a80c189857b329\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: Dr Coleman\u2014sorry. Which kind of doctor is Dr Coleman? Does he make us sick or make us well? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000734\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EDr Coleman exposed what a true Tory is. He said: \u201CNew Zealanders don\u2019t like welfare.\u201D Well, most people in this country understand that welfare is the bottom line that makes this country different from most other countries throughout the world. It was built on a welfare system that ensured that every young New Zealander, regardless of one\u2019s race and upbringing, had a fair opportunity to a good house, to a good education, and ultimately to a good job\u2014if one had a Labour Government. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000735\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EDr Coleman just exposed the fact that most of those National Party MPs, many of them born with a silver spoon in their mouth, want to dismantle the welfare system of this country. If they get their hands on the levers of power in this country ever again, that is exactly what they will do. They will sell assets, dismantle the welfare system, and privatise the health system. We can be sure of that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000736\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EIt is very important to go back to a couple of key issues. The difference between the Labour Government and the National Party is leadership. We know where we are going. The Prime Minister laid out in her speech in this House yesterday where we are going for the next 3 years. When Don Brash got up, he did not know where he was going. And the National Party does not know where it is going. That is the problem, because National Party members do not know who they should follow. Is it Tom and Jerry, or Bill and Gerry, or John and Gerry? Who is it? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000737\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EWe can look not too far back in history and see what happened. On 3 April 2005 Dr Brash said: \u201CBill English has my full support.\u201D Yeah, right! John Key has come out more recently and said: \u201CI have very publicly on dozens of occasions outlined my unconditional support for him. I actively worked hard, and will continue to work hard, to ensure that he is a very successful leader.\u201D I say to John that he has failed the first challenge, because he has not assisted Don Brash to become a successful leader. Don Brash is a failed leader, and John Key\u2019s endorsement is that he is a failed supporter. So National Party members do not know who they have got to follow. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000738\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EDr Brash has said: \u201CThere\u2019s been nothing which you could call a coherent or organised plot.\u201D I say to Don that he should look again. John Key said: \u201CThere is no grand master plan behind the scenes, like we go after him after six months.\u201D Well, they might give him 9 months. The question is: where does that leave the National Party? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000739\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EI take the opportunity to emphasise, once again, that Labour has shown strong leadership for this country for 6 years. It has led us through to the lowest level of unemployment in the Western World, and we continue to have low inflation and strong economic growth that has outperformed just about every other country in the OECD. That is because we have leadership. The Labour Government has leadership. We have unity and a sense of purpose that the National Party does not have. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000740\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EThe problem is that the National Party is looking for some leadership. In the past it has looked to the US. National has looked to that friendly country over the Pacific, the US, and has said that it would have been in Iraq because it wanted to be there with its friend the United States. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000741\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003EOne thing I will never forget about being in this Parliament is that I was in a Government that refused to be drawn into that war, and that hundreds, if not thousands, of New Zealanders remain alive today, because Helen Clark led the Labour Government. If Don Brash had been Prime Minister, he would have killed thousands of New Zealanders by rushing into the Iraq situation. That issue alone is enough to say that the Labour Government has led this country properly for the last 6 years.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000742\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002220ab6f5caa0d490da403cbae86752d19\u0022\u003EAnne Tolley\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I have been tolerant because you have said that you were letting things go. However, that member has continued throughout his 10 minutes now to refer to our leader by a name other than the name that has already been ruled on in the House today as the way he should be addressed. His correct address is Dr Don Brash\u2014not Don or Don Brash, but Dr Don Brash.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000743\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022471dee54-f59e-4497-b3d3-c39044ce7169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b777062fea25451b8b08f10a2d49b436\u0022\u003EHon DAMIEN O\u0027CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: Madam Speaker\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000744\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224c5b1bc3ab6d4b8da0e65fd9850f8a37\u0022\u003EThe ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley)\u003C/span\u003E: I am sorry, but the member\u2019s time has expired.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000745\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003EDebate interrupted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20060215f005fd25e88e411e82fdcbbf16710135000746\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fae7af0d-c48d-4dd4-88f3-928ccaa3a984\u0022\u003EThe House adjourned at 10 p.m.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n  \u003C/body\u003E\n\u003C/html\u003E"