Cunliffe David: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Cunliffe David: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:629;Page:1179] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 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 “Murray mojo”. The “Murray mojo” 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. 
The irony of that will not be lost on people because they know that it was the National Party—Murray McCully’s party—that forgot about the GST on its television spend. It just forgot about a million dollars or so. National members said: “Oh gosh was it exclusive? I thought it was inclusive. Oh I’m terribly sorry.” What is worse: forgetting one’s GST—for which if one is in business one could go to prison for—or 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. 
Simon Power 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. You may not be tuned into the member’s 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. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I thank the member for that. The member knows about the use of the word “you”. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: I thank the member for the reminder. Despite my esteem for the Speaker I shall leave him out. 
What is clear is that the “McCully mojo” 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. 
Simon Power 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Yes I know what the member is going to say. 
Simon Power 
: How do you know what I am going to say? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Because I am tuned in. I just say to the member on my right that under Speakers’ rulings 26/6 and 26/7 a member cannot use a nickname or a first name. A speaker must use the member’s full name or his or her title. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: 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’s 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. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: What does he say about the pinstripe jailer? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: The pinstripe jailer and the prince of darkness—what a team National has. So that is the “McCully mojo”. 
Then 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—they 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. 
 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 “change the nature of New Zealand”. 
Well 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’is 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. 
We 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. 
National 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.