King Annette: General Debate 
King Annette: General Debate 
[Volume:641;Page:11580] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of State Services) 
: 
 “You have no policy.” That has been the mantra parroted by the National Party in recent weeks and today I just want to point out the irony of that hollow claim. The Labour Party came into Government and it had policy before it became the Government. We have worked with the Progressive party New Zealand First United Future and the Greens. We all came to the table after the election with the policy agenda we wanted to progress because MMP requires us to do that—to have trade-offs and collaboration to ensure that the parties that want to form a Government reach an agenda that enables them to do so. In 1999 2002 and 2005 under the leadership of Helen Clark we achieved that and policies have been implemented over the past 8 years. 
The irony and the hypocrisy of the shallow rhetoric of the National Party is that it has no policy of its own. National members are the proverbial political cuckoos; they hop into everybody else’s policy nest. They go around stealing other people’s policies because they have none of their own. 
Let us just go through the list of policies the National Party has been stealing. For over 30 years the Labour Party has supported having a nuclear-free New Zealand—through conferences through remits through rallies and finally through policy implementation. Through good times and bad we have believed in a nuclear-free New Zealand. We have made New Zealand known in the world as a nuclear-free country and from that flowed the clean green pure New Zealand image that we are all so proud of. For 30 years National members opposed that policy. They goaded they denigrated they criticised and they fought election after election against having a nuclear-free New Zealand. And now it is their policy. After 30 years of opposing it it is now their policy. It is part of the “me too” approach that those members are now taking to policy development. 
We could take Labour’s defence policy as a further example. It has been clear for years where Labour has stood on defence in New Zealand. We believe in being a good international citizen and in building up the sort of armed forces that are fit for our purpose and we have set out to implement that policy. We have taken the flack. We have taken the organised campaigns against our defence policy. We have taken the jibes the letters to the editors the speeches from the military experts and the accusations that we were freeloading on our friends. But last week our policy became the National Party’s policy. It is now a sensible policy according to Mr McCully. It is now part of the National Party’s “me too” approach to policy. 
We could take the example of paid parental leave. It is a case of Labour policy implemented. It is part of a suite of policies intended to support families. According to the National Party it would destroy small business. National opposed it; its members even voted against it. But hello it is now part of the National Party’s “me too” policy approach. We could take the example of 4 weeks’ holiday for New Zealanders which is a policy we have implemented to give families time together. It was vigorously opposed and voted against by the National Party; it is now National Party “me too” policy. We could take the example of Working for Families tax credits. The Labour Government’s policy is to put more money into the pockets of families and that has had huge advantages for many families around New Zealand. It was opposed by the National Party. Those members voted against it. They are now in favour of it—except for middle-income New Zealanders. 
We could take the example of the Superannuation Fund. It is a forward-looking policy long overdue that secures a pension for our children and our grandchildren. The money is not all to be spent on this current generation. The National Party voted against the Superannuation Fund and it is now National Party policy. It is part of the “me too” approach to policy development. We could take the example of climate change. It was picked up by Labour and it is now National Party policy. National members said climate change was a hoax—today it is not.