Coleman Jonathan: General Debate 
Coleman Jonathan: General Debate 
[Volume:652;Page:1410] 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 It has been a long long time since Labour has been down to seven members in the Chamber for a general debate but I guess that pretty much sums up where that mob is at the moment. Frankly after that insipid uninspiring speech from the Leader of the Opposition people would feel like going off for a coffee to perk up. 
When we look at where Phil Goff is at the moment as the temporary leader of the Labour Party we can see that the future does not look too good. That leader opposite has been reduced to tabling blog sites and asking minor questions about staffing numbers while he leaves the big questions on the economy to David Cunliffe to address. There is no question that the “Phil-in” will soon be filled in. Phil Goff is the fall guy. He must be the biggest mug in New Zealand politics. 
When Labour wants someone to take the tough job—to fall on his sword—it is Phil. When Phil Goff was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Labour had to move someone out of the way to make room for Winston Peters it was Phil Goff. When Labour needed someone to take the hospital pass the corrections portfolio whom did it line up for that job? It was Phil Goff. When it needed a new leader after a crushing defeat who was the one person silly enough to actually take the job? It was Phil Goff. 
I can tell members what will happen next. Labour will sack Phil Goff because there is no doubt that there is a lot of unhappiness in the Labour corridors. If we look to members opposite we see a pretty dispirited disunited lot. There is a little left-wing faction down the corridor and it is built around Ruth Dyson Maryan Street and Charles Chauvel. They are grinning over there but they know it is absolutely true. They are not going to put up with this shocking performance for too much longer. Then we have the main faction the faction of one—but it has enough for a whole caucus—David Cunliffe. 
David Cunliffe is the man who now insists on asking the big questions in question time. He will not trust his leader to actually ask the questions. And then we have Shane Jones over there. Shane is in hibernation at the moment. He has got the Bill Liu stuff he wants to get out of the way. He is getting over the negative stuff about the shower-head stuff. But he will be back. He is biding his time. He is trying to decide whether he should leave Parliament now but no things look bad enough with Phil. David Cunliffe will be so uncomfortable for the party that Shane Jones could well come to the fore. So it is a very uncomfortable time over there. 
The running sore from the last Government was the Department of Corrections. And who was responsible for that department for the whole year that this Auditor-General’s report was based on? It was Phil Goff. I have some very interesting quotes here from Mr Goff. This is what he said when he was the Minister of Corrections: “Our corrections system has improved significantly over the past nine years …” and “I look forward to working with Corrections staff and with anyone prepared to offer constructive solutions to meeting the challenges within the corrections portfolio …” And there was his quote about parole—that he required the safety of the community to be the paramount consideration. Well frankly Phil Goff failed miserably in that portfolio. But he started this term pretty chipper. Those members have been up to it in the House. 
I can tell members though that if they were at the lantern festival in Auckland on Waitangi Day they would have seen a major turning point. When John Key got out of his car it took him 30 minutes to walk the 200 metres from his car to the stage. I do not think anything like that has been seen before in New Zealand politics. It was truly a 21st century Kiwi Camelot. Then we saw Phil Goff. We saw him realise that the tide had turned. We saw a dispirited hesitant man stumbling over his speech. The reality is that there is a sea change out there. 
What Labour—which was the previous Government and is now the Opposition—will have to face up to is the fact that we have a very popular Prime Minister who is the right man for the times. Those guys in Opposition are facing a Prime Minister who will put the interests of New Zealand first not the interests of the National Party. That is the major change now compared with the last 9 years and the glum faces over there know it. But worst of all for those guys is the fact that the public knows it.