Goldsmith Paul: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGoldsmith Paul: General Debate[Sitting date: 23 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19405. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL GOLDSMITH (National):We have got valedictories coming this afternoon from excellent National members of Parliament. I am staying Mr Prime Minister. We have got Cam Calder and we have got Hayes King Tremain and Wilkinson all of whom have made great contributions. It is true that John Hayes has been the most difficult to handle on the Finance and Expenditure Committee—much harder than any of the Opposition members—but nevertheless he has made a great contribution. I notice that the players from the Parliamentary Rugby Team are here to support Cam Calder and I put my hand out to you. Diversity of background is the strength of the National Party and these people who are giving their valedictories today are capable people who have other options to go to once they have made their contribution in Parliament and they do not have to hang around well past their use-by date. In their second to last week of Parliament they will be reflecting on their contributions.Of course there will be many other people in this Chamber here today who are in their second to last week of Parliament but they do not know it yet. The people are sovereign and it could befall any of us but I fear that some of our colleagues on the other side of the House will not get a chance to deliver their valedictories. Mr Muldoon used to say that so-and-so was “a hard old dog to get off the porch” and that is true of Winston Peters there is no doubt. Who knows whether he and his interesting collection will be back after the election including that fellow with the two letterboxes? I worry about the members on the other side in the Labour Party. I worry about my cousin Moana Mackey. I worry about Clayton Cosgrove my good friend. All of them are in a great deal of trouble when it comes to the election even David Parker whom I have worked with in a collegial manner in the Finance and Expenditure Committee. Anybody on the Labour Party list has something to worry about.I have been very busy in the Epsom electorate working hard to build up the party vote. Like every other candidate in this party I am working to lift the party vote because that is the one that makes a difference. I would just like to say to Labour to rein in that guy who lives in Parnell who keeps pinching my signs. I know who he is. When I am on the doorsteps in Epsom I hear deep concern about the potential for things to go wrong if a Government comprising Annette Sykes John Minto Laila Harré David Cunliffe Metiria Turei Russel Norman and Winston Peters veers off in all sorts of directions after this election. They are very concerned about the prospect of Asenati Lole-Taylor overseeing the Reserve Bank. They are terrified of John Minto being the Treaty negotiations Minister. Metiria Turei said in this House that work is a trap that it does not pay enough and therefore people should not bother—just imagine if she was in charge of welfare. It is all too terrible to contemplate.Why when this country is heading in the right direction guided by a strong stable united and sensible Government and when there is so much work to be done would anybody put it all at risk by leaping into the unknown with this motley crew? How can the country put its trust in David Cunliffe and the team when they cannot even organise a decent picture of him for the soft profile piece in the Dominion Post this morning? Did they not see that the photo they sent to the Dominion Post had him squatting beside a rabbit in shorts that were clearly far too small and inadequate for the task? I encourage you to have a look at that. That is what worries people. That is what worries people.The Labour prescription is bad enough. It is overturning the Reserve Bank consensus it is slapping a new tax on every productive business in this country and it is effectively nationalising the electricity sector. That is bad enough but if it scraped back into power it would not get to dictate what happens in this country. It would have to give something to the Greens. Imagine what the Greens would demand aside from their massive carbon tax and aside from making farmers uncompetitive. What would Labour give to Hone Harawira? It would have to free Mr Dotcom. It would have to give free stuff to everybody and that is why this country would be in a terrible state.I am very proud of the record of this Government over the past 6 years. Fundamentally it has been about working to create an environment in which New Zealanders can thrive and will only do well and will only be in the position to afford all the sorts of things that we value—quality health-care superannuation in old age world-class education and support for the vulnerable—if we have an internationally competitive economy. Of course what is internationally competitive is a moving target and it requires constant improvement not just by exporters but throughout the economy.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.