Power Simon: General Debates 
Power Simon: General Debates 
[Volume:611;Page:8353] 
SIMON POWER (NZ National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 What is the bet that United Future does not have that member on the hustings at the next election? He will not be anywhere to be seen when it comes to whipping up public fervour over various issues that this Government is putting through. Up until now this was a reasonably lively debate and I have come to the conclusion that the Labour Party members have worked this tactic out. When the Opposition starts to get on top of them they put up someone from United Future and that will kill the debate dead. I want to thank that member for reading to us newspaper articles that we have all read non-stop over the last 4 or 5 days. If the member is going to talk about first-home buyers then he should at least have the decency to get up and speak from the heart not from written notes or alternatively give the speech to Marc Alexander and let him have a crack. At least we know that when Marc Alexander gets to his feet he is likely to have a go at the Government. The more that we encourage Marc Alexander to get to his feet and have a go at the Government the better off we will be. We will be watching the Labour Party’s tactics of putting up Gordon Copeland when the going gets tough. 
I want to respond to David Parker the member for Otago. I was in Oamaru on Thursday. The local newspaper has a column that asks locals: “What was the one thing you would like your local MP to do?” What people say when they answer that question is: “Who is my local MP?” They do not have a clue who he is. That seat is marginal. David Parker goes to bed every night hearing “knock knock knock knock” as the National Party door-knocks in Otago. That seat is coming home after the next election and that member will have to find another job. He will not be one of the members following the Prime Minister as she makes remarks such as: “I sometimes wonder whether I’m a victim of my own success as a competent and popular Prime Minister.” What have we here? Could one get arrogance of any higher levels when dealing with the media? 
What I particularly like is the fact that this Prime Minister is now starting to refer to herself in the third person for example: “The Prime Minister is aggrieved.” “The Prime Minister believes … ”—blah blah blah—“who incidentally is me.” she said on radio earlier this week. It is almost like Margaret Thatcher saying: “We are a grandmother.” Remember when Margaret Thatcher said that? It will not be long before this Prime Minister takes herself far too seriously and backs herself with comments like: “I wonder whether I am a victim of my own competency and success.” Well we are crying buckets over here for the Prime Minister. 
Tony Blair the master of spin whom the Prime Minister bases her administration on fronts up to select committees. He fronts up to committees of inquiry. He fronts up every time he is called. What does this Prime Minister do when the heat comes on? She sends Michael Cullen in. She sends Michael Cullen into the House while she sits somewhere else in New Zealand leaving him to carry the workload when it all goes wrong. Will the Prime Minister be fronting up to New Zealand farmers tomorrow at 12.30 p.m. on the steps of Parliament? No. She stood in the House yesterday and said: “The Prime Minister has very pressing engagements in Auckland.” I bet she does. The last thing this Prime Minister wants to do is to face down the people who provide the wealth of this country and provide Don Brash’s—er Michael Cullen’s surpluses. The money that Michael Cullen is banking in his super fund is farmers’ earnings. 
Those farmers deserve to have Labour Party members front up to them tomorrow when they arrive here at Parliament. [ 
Interruption 
] Is Darren Hughes going on the steps tomorrow? That member should front down those farmers. They are furious with what this Government has done. It is just not good enough. If it is good enough for Tony Blair to front up before committees of inquiry this Prime Minister should get down from being a victim of her own success and front up to “corngate”. She should get off her high horse and get in front of that select committee just like Tony Blair has done in the UK.