Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
[Volume:630;Page:2498] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 Well who would believe that New Zealand First is not part of the Government? Ron has gone home—Ron has gone back to his Labour roots. During the adjournment Helen Clark will reshuffle her Cabinet. We know that because she was a little uncertain about what to do with the finance Minister. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. You would expect that when a member has been here for some time he might know the Standing Orders. It is not proper for Mr Brownlee to refer to someone by his or her Christian name. It is proper that he calls Mr Mark by his full name or refers to him as “the honourable member” or major or sir in his case but not by his Christian name. The member should be asked to stay within the Standing Orders. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: The member is correct. All members know that members should be referred to by their correct name. So would the member please refer to the member by his correct name. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I withdraw and apologise. My friend Paku is signalling me from the gallery to say that his friend Ron does not mind being referred to by his first name. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: No no. The member knows that that is incorrect—the member had better withdraw and apologise. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I apologise Madam Assistant Speaker. The point is that Helen Clark is going to reshuffle her Cabinet. She has to. She knows that Michael Cullen has got tired. He is a little uncertain about whether he wants to carry on and more than that she is uncertain about whether she wants him to carry on. We know that Pete Hodgson has completely lost the plot. He is in severe need of some sabbatical and he also has put himself on the managed exit list along with Russell Fairbrother Dianne Yates and our old friend the former member for Whanganui. The certainty is that despite the rumours—the strong rumours—Ron Mark will not be in that ministry. 
Hon Members 
: Oh no! 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I know—people on this side of the House think he is a competent man but despite that speech today New Zealand First is not part of the Government. Despite the fact that every time the Prime Minister gets into trouble Winston “the trained poodle” Peters gets on his hind legs Winston is insisting that New Zealand First is not part of the Government. We just keep seeing day after day examples of why New Zealand First is not part of the Government. 
Earlier in the week the Auditor-General reported on the arrangements the Government has with the Green Party. Those arrangements have been spun by the Government as being perfectly acceptable and the Prime Minister has said that there is nothing the Government needs to change. The reality is that the Auditor-General found a lot of things that need to change. The Auditor-General agreed with the National Party that Helen Clark had freely dipped into the taxpayer purse in order to cobble together an arrangement that suited her and ensured her longevity. The sad thing is that the Auditor-General could not make any comments about the constitutional issues that arise out of that situation. 
So we now have a Parliament that cannot go directly to the people who are organising Government policy on the Buy Kiwi Made campaign and more important cannot go directly to the person who is organising Government policy on energy conservation—something that is critical to this country’s future. It is time that someone somewhere inside the Government showed enough integrity to insist that those people somehow become accountable directly to this Parliament. I do not hold out any hope that that integrity will be shown by anyone in Helen Clark’s Government nor by anyone who is supporting her Government but who for that matter is not part of it. 
Then there is the other issue that has come to light today and I am sure that my colleague Bill English will speak more on it. It has to be a sign that a Government is in its last days when two former Ministers are being investigated by Government agencies or by special people appointed by the Government to investigate them and the ninth floor is donkey deep in ensuring the outcome from those investigations. That is the way in which this Government works. Helen Clark has the belief that her right to run this country cannot be challenged. It is an inappropriate way for someone to operate and it will catch up with her later. 
Then there is the extraordinary dispute between Dr Cullen and Helen Clark. It does not matter what sort of spin Helen Clark wants to put on it the reality is that there was a 24-hour silence once she had first spoken. She may say in here today that Dr Cullen is her loyal deputy that she supports him and that as long as he is there she wants him there but for 24 hours that man was hung out. It will be only his own toughness that sees him still sitting in that seat today. What we do know is that the two strongest people in this Government are clearly at loggerheads. When that sort of breakdown occurs the end is very close.