Brownlee Gerry: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Brownlee Gerry: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Volume:644;Page:14072] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) 
: 
 Despite the fact that Phil Goff ended his contribution this afternoon on a fairly solemn note I acknowledge that the expression he gave to the House is appreciated. When it comes to families we are all somewhat vulnerable when we experience personal tragedies like that. In this case it was a particularly sad death. He knows that the condolences from this side of the House have been thoroughly expressed to him. 
Now we will go back to the bit that he spoke about where we have the robust debate. Phil Goff has to be the happiest man in the Labour Party caucus because for the first time in his political career he has his colleagues phoning him up and saying: “Can we come to the barbecue?”. The reason for that is that he is now part of a party that has completely disconnected itself from the aspirations of ordinary New Zealanders. 
It has been fascinating this afternoon to hear Labour members speak in very soft and measured tones about the achievements of the Government. There was an extraordinary speech from Dr Michael Cullen who simply put aside the usual rhetoric that one would expect from him and started to try to list some of the achievements of the Labour Government. He was almost saying: “It’s incredible isn’t it that we’re in such bad shape in the polls when we’ve done so much for these ungrateful people out there.” On the very day that the Electoral Finance Bill was passed I could not help wondering when he started talking about the sitting days next year and telling us not to jump to any conclusions about an election date whether the idea of a “Let’s Not Have an Election This Year Bill” is rattling around inside his head. 
Similarly we heard from Phil Goff the soft list of all the wonderful things the Labour Government is doing for New Zealanders. It was particularly interesting to hear him mention the figure of some $9000 extra apparently over and above the salaries that are heavily taxed going to families on reasonably middling incomes. The interesting thing is firstly that there will be people in this country earning in excess of $60000 a year who are not getting any wealthier at all. It really shows how far incomes have slipped as far as purchasing power is concerned. 
The really amazing thing that Mr Goff chose not to mention is that if that family is average if they are just ordinary New Zealanders and they have an ordinary mortgage then his Government’s excesses spending and hoarding of the taxpayer funds have seen interest rates rise to a level where that $9500 I think he said that is given to them as a benefit has about $7500 taken from it each year in additional interest over and above what they should be paying in an ordinarily dynamic economy. 
I get very very cynical when I hear that sort of soft approach coming from the Labour Party about how good it is. There are many things that he did not mention about this year. The first is the extraordinary outburst of public reaction over the anti-smacking bill. One might say that it has not been as bad as was expected. I do not think that is actually the case. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: The member voted for it. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I think there are still a lot of people in their homes who wonder what will happen if they get themselves in a situation where their neighbour or school reports on them or some other thing. I think what we saw from the country was an expression of concern about how easily a Government can get into the lives of New Zealanders and rip them around. The member over there said “The member voted for it.” Yes the National Party did extract some compromise from the Prime Minister and we supported the bill. Let me say that had we not done that then the consequences for ordinary families would have been far worse than they are under the current law. If there is a lack of consequence from this bill it is because of the leadership of John Key because of the pressure that was put on by the public and because of the pressure exercised by the National Party. What it really spoke of was the fear that New Zealanders have of their lives being controlled. 
We also did not hear from any of the Ministers about their two ministerial colleagues who were lost during this year—the two ministerial colleagues who got themselves in so much hot water that they had to take off resign or go either for a short period of time or in the case of David Benson-Pope forever. We did not hear about the issues that led to those resignations. We did not hear about the bad behaviour of those Ministers the lying in the House and the misleading of the public. We did not hear about the blatant politicisation of the Public Service. We heard Mr Goff stand up and say how wonderful our civil servants are and how much the Government relies on them. 
I think it is fair to say that we have very very capable and competent people inside the bureaucracy. There is no question about that. They serve Governments very very well. But why do we have a Minister who has to insert his own people inside the ministry in order to get the right political message coming out? We know full well that the Government is sitting on a report from the State Services Commission over the Clare Curran and Erin Leigh incident. We know it will probably be released some time on Friday afternoon or even late on Monday afternoon in order to try to avoid the certain scrutiny that it should receive. How do we know that? Because this afternoon Trevor Mallard who for some 7 weeks now has refused to apologise to Erin Leigh for besmirching her reputation came sneaking down to the House quietly apologised and is now hoping that it will all go away. I do not think the apology would have been given in the House if Mr Mallard did not know what is in the report of the State Services Commission. 
Also in this debate we are looking towards next year. What will next year bring? Well the first thing for the Labour Party apparently is a little bit of renewal because we are saying goodbye to Dianne Yates and Ann Hartley. The problem is that the people Labour is getting in on the list will not have a very long political career at all. They will join some of the others who will wake up in the new year and realise that their political opportunities are rapidly coming to an end. Charles Chauvel will be one of those; it will be back to the law for him. I do not know where Sue Moroney came from but she will not be coming back. Moana Mackey is finished. Darien Fenton can go back to wherever she came from. And of course Rick Barker can too. They are the certainties. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: It’s this sort of arrogance that will get you into trouble. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: No; they are the certainties who will go. I remember well in 1998 Trevor Mallard standing in this House and pointing across to various members—pointing right at those members—waving his finger at them and saying “You are gone.” I say to Mr Goff that I would not be as arrogant as that but I can tell the member that there will be a wholesale turnover inside the Labour Party. 
The other thing we can look forward to next year is the Phillip Field fraud case. The member over there Mr Goff might tell us now whether he has been subpoenaed to appear in that case. That is what will happen—there will be a civil case. Mr Damien O’Connor will be there in the dock with Mr Goff and Mr Swain— 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: And Ross Robertson. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: —and Mr Ross Robertson. All of them will be appearing. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Unlike you I’ve never had the experience of being in the dock. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I can tell the member from personal experience that being in the dock is not a pleasant thing. But being in the dock in an election year is an extremely stupid thing. None the less that will happen. 
We are also debating the sitting times for next year. It will surprise New Zealanders that in the whole of the 2008 year leading up to the election we will see just 60 parliamentary days at the most—just 60 parliamentary days. That is only 2 months. When we take out all the set pieces we will have next year a Government doing 2 months’ work over probably an 8 or 9-month period and we can guarantee that very little will be done at all. 
I take my last couple of minutes to affirm the thanks Mr Key gave on the part of the National Party to the very long list he had and I also congratulate the Clerk Mary Harris on her appointment. It is a historic appointment and thoroughly deserved and we are very pleased to be able to support that. I thank the Assistant Speakers Ann Hartley and Ross Robertson who have filled in for you Madam Speaker adequately throughout the year. I thank also our own member Deputy Speaker the Hon Clem Simich for the work he has done. 
I particularly thank you Madam Speaker for your work. It is not an easy job being the Speaker of the House. There are fraught moments. I know you appreciate that they are just moments and that they do pass. We wish you the presiding officers and the Clerk a very happy Christmas a restful break and a good New Year. I also wish a very merry Christmas to our political confrères in this House. Mr Peters wished us all a very happy January and said it would be all downhill from there. I think that Mr Peters is the one who will find the slide under him for most of 2008.