Ryall Tony: General Debate 
Ryall Tony: General Debate 
[Volume:646;Page:15057] 
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
: 
 Well that speech was a vigorous defence of a sinking ship. We have seen today in this House during question time a Government whose supporters are bailing out on it day after day. We already know that United Future is following its own path. It dumped on the Government over the Electoral Finance Bill and it is trying to get onside with National on the MMP issue. In respect of New Zealand First Winston Peters gave a speech today in which he said he would go with whichever was the biggest party. It is “Goodbye Labour!” from Winston Peters. 
Then in the Chamber today Michael Cullen a man whose very existence in that chair opposite depends on the support of Keith Locke humiliated him by making absolutely outrageous claims about him and his involvement with the Khmer Rouge which brought Mr Locke almost to tears by way of his personal explanation with the support of his colleagues. But Michael Cullen thinks he is able to count on Keith Locke. 
Michael Cullen has seen yet more bickering between the Government’s coalition partners. It is a sinking ship: United Future is making its own way New Zealand First is saying it will go with the biggest party—“Bye bye Labour!”—and the Greens have been insulted. They are the bunch of people who have loyally toadied up to the Labour Party— 
Hon Member 
: 9 years 9 years. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: —for 9 long years. Yet members should look at how Michael Cullen treats Keith Locke. He brought the guy almost to tears when talking about his family. That is what Michael Cullen did. I say to the Greens that if those members are their friends I hate to think who their enemies are. 
That is what ordinary New Zealanders are asking today as well; they are asking who their enemies are when it comes to trying to keep their household budgets intact. I will tell them: it is the Labour Government. Interest rates are going through the roof and this Government does not understand and does not care. After 9 years on a Prime Minister’s salary Helen Clark does not care about the pressure of interest rates on ordinary New Zealanders. She does not care either about the price of cheese going through the roof. 
Hon Bill English 
: She doesn’t know. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: She does not even know. I bet you she does not even know. This Prime Minister who when asked about interest rate increases and the pressure on New Zealand families could say only that interest rates were not going through the roof. That is all she had to say. But they are going through the roof; they have gone up by 25 percent in the last 2 years and that is absolutely incredible. For people on a mortgage of $250000 Bill English says that means an extra $133 a week. That is an awful lot of money. 
In talking about health issues we want the Auditor-General to look at what has been going on at the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board because the report is a whitewash. It does not deal with the involvement of management it does not deal with Annette King’s involvement in the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board issue and it does not deal with the whistleblower’s concerns. 
But I tell members that there will be further investigation into this matter. It will be just like the “lying in unison” inquiry whereby Mr Buwalda carried out an investigation and said “Oh no nothing has been going on.” Then the Ombudsman investigated and said that nothing was going on. But in the third investigation the Ombudsman discovered that there had indeed been “lying in unison” in the Immigration Service under Lianne Dalziel. 
We can look at the Ingram inquiry. Do members remember the Ingram inquiry? The first inquiry of the three was the New Zealand Immigration Service inquiry which stated that there had been a lot of inquiries but nothing to worry about in terms of Taito Phillip Field’s electorate office. Then we had the second inquiry—the Ingram inquiry about which the Prime Minister said it found nothing but a person trying to help others. That is what she said that the report found nothing but a person trying to help others. Then the third inquiry on this matter with Taito Phillip Field was referred to the police and now we know that criminal charges are following. So under Labour there always has to be three inquiries until the facts come to light. 
We have had the McKernan inquiry on the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board. We know there was a McKernan inquiry because Mr McKernan the Director-General of Health met with members of the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board and told them that the file had been gone through but that “nothing remarkable” had been found. That was the McKernan inquiry; the director-general concluded that “nothing remarkable” had been found.