Hide Rodney: General Debate 
Hide Rodney: General Debate 
[Volume:621;Page:16331] 
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 Let us cover some facts here. I will quote from a speech by the Hon John Tamihere given in March 2004—when he was talking to the media and when he was turning up to Parliament. Here is what he had to say: “… we need to make sure that we adhere to the highest standards. We must lift our own standards conduct and ethics to ensure that we are beyond reproach.” That is what John Tamihere said. Members will like this—John Tamihere wrote it: “We must be role models for our young people to look to.” And members will love this—this is the instruction to the Opposition: “And if we see others who fall short of those standards we must do something about it.” That is what ACT is doing. We are just trying to hold this Government to the standards it has set. That is all we are doing. I just wish that Helen Clark would hold her Ministers to the standards she has set. 
Let us understand what has happened here. We know that it is OK to be a forger. We have worked that out. One can forge documents to obtain $160000 from the Government—and one can still be an MP. If one pleads guilty in court one can still turn up and be an MP and a Minister because John Tamihere did that. One can actually plead guilty to two counts of uttering. That is OK. One can do that turn up and be an MP—there were two cases. Then one can turn up at Parliament campaign on this issue and say: “Oh no. I’m not going to take a golden handshake. No no! John Tamihere said he would win the votes and turned up here after running around the back of the Waipareira Trust knocking on doors and asking where his money was. But the Waipareira Trust said that it had no money. Why? Because John Tamihere spent it all. The Government is pouring $8 million into the trust but it has no money—so it had to sell $115000-worth of assets to provide a Labour Minister’s golden handshake totalling $195000. 
Here is what else we know about the standards of Helen Clark: one does not have to pay tax. That is right. One does not have to pay tax: one can be a lawyer a Minister a chief executive officer and all one has to say is: “Oh I thought it was a net amount.” and that is OK. I see Clayton Cosgrove over there and the House will enjoy this because I know that all members like Clayton Cosgrove. I came through Christchurch airport and I saw Clayton Cosgrove there. He came up to me as only he can do—like a pocket rocket: bounce bounce bounce. He said: “I have been talking to JT. I have been talking to JT. He says: ‘Keep it coming keep it coming.’ He has not had this much publicity for a long time.” So I thought that I had to take Clayton Cosgrove at his word; he is an honourable member. Bother me! I went home turned on the TV and there was John Tamihere the big Maori warrior from west Auckland blubbing on Television One— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Because he got caught. 
RODNEY HIDE 
:—because he was caught. I thought: oh well they must have caught him at an emotional moment. He will be there in Parliament on Tuesday will he not? The Maori warrior the man who has done nothing wrong—has anyone seen John Tamihere? No the big Maori warrior did not turn up. 
Here is something else we know. We know that John Tamihere cannot spell very well. We have picked that up from documents he has written and we saw some documentation with invoices for Maori trusts that do not exist. They spell liaison with only one “i”. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: So do I. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: I would not own up to that. They spell accommodation with only one “m” and mechanisms as “mechahisms”. Well why has Helen Clark not asked John Tamihere how to spell liaison accommodation or mechanisms? Where did those invoices come from? 
Here is another thing. Labour is the party that stands up for new standards: everyone has to be open and transparent. When we look at the  
Register of Ministers’ Interests and Assets 
 we see that it has remunerated directorships ownerships of real property and the holding of mortgages—but John Tamihere has a nil return. Oh it is a pocket-rocket return.