Pettis Jill: General Debate 
Pettis Jill: General Debate 
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JILL PETTIS (Labour—Whanganui) 
: 
 I am very pleased to join the debate this afternoon but I have to say that as a proud member of this Parliament and a passionate believer in democracy in New Zealand I am very worried about the girls in the National Party. I think the girls are being given a bit of a rough time over there. The boys are in the ascendancy and the girls are getting a bit of a hard time really. 
We have poor Katherine Rich who sits in the front and gets shorter and shorter by the day as she tries to cope with what I would say could be termed bullying. We girls on this side of the House would certainly refer to it as bullying because she just cannot seem to get her views through. Mr Brash refuses to listen to them. I feel a bit sorry for Katherine Rich because she was a bright light on the horizon originally but her star has faded and sadly she is looking a bit wan of late. I always suggest as a mother that a good dose of iron does wonders for anybody; that is a bit of collegial advice for that member. 
I also have to say that one of the other girls I am concerned about is Lynda Scott. She is a mere shadow of her former self. In fact she is so much of a shadow that we never see her these days—but moving right along! I have to say that Lynda Scott a qualified doctor an experienced geriatrician an experienced general practitioner— 
Darren Hughes 
: A member of the Millennium Club— 
JILL PETTIS 
: What’s that? 
Darren Hughes 
: Simon Power’s think tank. 
JILL PETTIS 
: Well she is a member of the Millennium Club which is obviously so high-profile that I have never heard of it. She was completely passed over as the health spokesperson. But I have to say that a bit of gender balance has come in there because also passed over was Dr Paul Hutchison who has considerable experience as a private gynaecologist—he got his finger into everything— 
Simon Power 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Even the Minister of Education was appalled with that comment. 
JILL PETTIS 
: Well he is; the member has not listened to the rest— 
Simon Power 
: The member should sit down and listen to the point of order. 
JILL PETTIS 
: Well I wish the member would listen to the rest of my sentence. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: I ask Jill Pettis to sit down. 
Simon Power 
: I think it is fair to say that a number of people in the House would have taken offence at that last remark of Mrs Pettis. In particular even the Minister of Education was shall we say baffled by the context in which it was said. I think you should warn the member to be a little more careful with her use of descriptive language. 
JILL PETTIS 
: Well I am not going to apologise for something that was completely misinterpreted. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: Would Jill Pettis please sit down. The member should either speak to the point of order if she wishes or wait for an indication from me. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Although some of us did express some shock at what might be coming I think we should not anticipate and we should let the member finish her sentence. In that way we could work out whether it was really offensive or whether we were jumping to conclusions—as some of us jumped to the conclusion that Simon Power would be National leader one day. 
Simon Power 
: Are you going to let him get away with that? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: No I am not going to let him get away with that but I think there was a fair element of anticipation there and it is really all in the mind and is to do with the state of our minds at the time. I think Jill Pettis was having a lot of fun and I did not take offence. 
Simon Power 
: Well it was still insensitive. 
JILL PETTIS 
: Well I have to say that Mr Power should not be so quick off the mark in future and as a mother I could add more but I will not. [ 
Interruption 
] Quite right Mr Williamson. 
What I was going to say about Mr Hutchison is that he was very premature in some of the comments he made about the health field. I felt considerable sorrow for him as he also is an experienced doctor—I will not use the other description of his profession that led some members over there to get excited. But I would have to say that his being passed over by Dr Brash was foolhardy in the extreme as far as I am concerned. National has a health spokesperson who has probably never done anything more than take a temperature. What does Judith Collins know about health? I suggest that what Judith Collins knows about health could be written on the back of a postage stamp with a carpenter’s pencil. That is about the extent of her knowledge on health. 
So I think all in all there is a fair amount of discrimination going on across the other side of the House. Some of the members have been given a hard time particularly in relation to the health area. 
One of the other double standards that is occurring over there that I want to refer to is with regard to the Department of Corrections. There has been a lot of heat and angst and much chest thumping from National Party members this week but I remind those members over there who have senile decay that their memories are very very short about what they have said in the past about corrections.