Chadwick Steve: General Debates 
Chadwick Steve: General Debates 
[Volume:614;Page:10386] 
STEVE CHADWICK (Labour—Rotorua) 
: 
 I am delighted to have the opportunity to follow the deputy leader of the National Party and welcome to those ranks I say to Mr Brownlee. Thank goodness that the party has a rambunctious and jolly heart there. It certainly needs to be latching on to something with a bit of colour after the leadership coup that has seen the Opposition fall in the polls to a worse state than when Bill English was the leader. It must be desperate for the Opposition to see this traction slipping away—a bit like Shane Ardern going backwards down the parliamentary steps. But we in the Labour Party have had a fabulous party this week. We have had 10 years of solid leadership from Helen Clark. It is a wonderful thing that we have celebrated with pink jelly and chain-mail cloaks decorated with feathers. We have had a party that the country of New Zealand has joined in with. We did not see Don Brash rushing down the red carpet in  
The Lord of the Rings 
 parade. 
Government Member 
: He wasn’t there. 
STEVE CHADWICK 
: No where was he? He was not even given an opportunity to speak. Poor Don Brash with his love of  
Abba— 
he really is out of sync with the rest of New Zealand Inc. But here we are and that crusty style of the new leadership that dry brittle crusty leadership is something that does not make us cringe here in Government. It reminds us of those 10 dreadful years when the members opposite were in Government; years built on greed and self-aspiration with no sense of community and no sense of togetherness. We do not want to go back there. I know that New Zealand is with us here. 
I want to focus on our wonderful partnerships with industry and local government that were so ably demonstrated this week with 
 The Lord of the Rings.  
What an industry that is! And what a Government this is! It put its hand on its heart when it came into Government and invested $145 million into the film industry in this country—something the Opposition did not even think to do in 9 years—and now we are reaping the benefit. We saw it with Kerry Prendergast standing there with a beautiful red stole on—very appropriately—next to our wonderful leader in her fantastically fashion-designed dress which the country noticed and was breathtaken by. She looked wonderful did she not? Her cloak was designed by Weta studios. We work with industry. It is absolutely fantastic that Francis Hooper of World—and the Opposition would know about World the fashion icon in this country; another industry on the map—said she should wear her wonderful outfit to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. We at our celebration on Tuesday certainly applauded the beautiful serene leadership in our party. We are not wrought by the division and splits that the Opposition has to face. 
This is a Government that through the film industry is putting New Zealand Inc on the map. We should be congratulating Barry Osborne for his fantastic  
Lord of the Rings 
 which we all enjoyed. Even the Opposition enjoyed it. What did we see there? We saw Viggo Mortensen wearing a shirt designed by a Wellington art student. We saw Orlando Bloom wearing a T-shirt that said: “I love New Zealand”. That is the sort of industry that we are inspiring telling our stories on the international stage. We have had more coverage from this week—in Singapore Australia and the United Kingdom—than from any money that this Government could put into Tourism New Zealand and it has come from  
The Lord of the Rings 
 alone. The Opposition members talk about the Government having no idea of industry but we know that there is economic analysis that indicates we will make $250 million for our investment in that film. And we have more. We have  
Whale Rider 
 riding the crest of the wave internationally now putting New Zealand on the map. Our films are winning awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and that is absolutely the most exciting thing. That investment in the film industry will put New Zealand on the map and as a country we are all very proud of it. We do not want to go back to those horrible years when unemployment was at 9.1 percent. Now it is down to 4.4 percent.