Power Simon: Budget Debate 
Power Simon: Budget Debate 
[Volume:631;Page:3347] 
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 Dr Don Brash has moved a motion of no confidence in this Government. One of the reasons behind that as we saw on the front page of the  
Sunday Star-Times 
 last Sunday is that this Government has no confidence in a number of its own back-benchers. We are starting to see the emergence of the managed-exit list and we are starting to see the likes of Jill Pettis Dianne Yates Russell Fairbrother Jim Sutton Paul Swain and Dover Samuels being shown the door—a back door by the way. Not only that but after the Maori Affairs Committee meeting today we will see the end of Parekura Horomia by the sounds of things. No doubt television and other media outlets will have plenty to say about that later on. 
After listening to question time today I would say that the House will see the end of Judith Tizard. She gave a hopeless performance. She described her own job over the last 7 years as being hugely rewarding. For whom? It certainly has not been hugely rewarding for the people of Auckland. After the Telecom leak we will see the managed exit of David Cunliffe and after the sad little Budget we saw last week—I see Trevor Mallard has his hand up to be the next Minister of Finance—we will see the managed exit of Dr Michael Cullen. 
There are some serious issues though relating to my areas of corrections police and more particularly prison forecasts. In recent days documents released under the Official Information Act have shown that the number of limitations to the current prison forecasts are in serious danger because no allowance according to these documents has been made for the additional 1000 police staff agreed to as part of the confidence and supply agreement. 
 That tells members on this side of the House something quite simple. It tell us that Cabinet members sat around and made the decision to approve the 1000 extra police—and we will wait and see whether that actually eventuates—purely and simply on the basis of keeping Winston Peters quiet. They did not worry about the downstream effects. They did not worry about the policy problems it will cause in corrections in justice or in the court system. They just wanted to keep Winston Peters quiet. I see Brian Donnelly is sitting there with a smirk on his face. He knows as everybody in this Parliament does that Peter Brown’s days as the deputy leader of New Zealand First are just about over. The plotters are out. Barbara Stewart is smiling. She will put her name in the ballot. She might as well; everybody else will. 
It seems to me that the Economic and Fiscal Update raises very serious questions around corrections and police. When we look at the Statement of Fiscal Risks we see this statement about the corrections department: “The Department of Corrections has estimated that a further total of $209 million capital and $25 million operating funding may be required . . . The Minister of Finance has yet to fully consider the quantum of this risk.” In other words the cost of building those prisons will not stop at $890 million. That is a major headache for the Minister of Corrections who has turned his back on the private sector coming in and effectively managing prisons in New Zealand for no other reason than he cannot move himself out of his ideological ditch and he refuses to look outside the policy square. 
In the justice area—the area of the heavyweight new Minister of Justice Mark Burton—we have seen in terms of the specific fiscal risks that the associated flow-on cost of those 1000 extra police has yet to be quantified. We see that: “The Minister of Finance has yet to fully consider the quantum of this risk.” That tells members on this side of the House that there were no fiscal discussions with Dr Cullen about the downstream effects of 1000 new police. A dirty little deal was done to keep Winston Peters and New Zealand First happy in their confidence and supply agreement with no serious policy considerations being given to the flow-on— 
Jill Pettis 
: What about Alamein? 
SIMON POWER 
: There goes Jill Pettis! I say to Mrs Pettis that she should speak up while she can because time is running out. 
There are real problems around police as well. The Budget documents find real fiscal risks. The Minister of Finance has yet to fully consider the quantum of the risk in just adding 1000 front-line police. So not only do we have risks in Vote Police but we also have them in Vote Corrections Vote Justice and Vote Courts. All of us in this Chamber know what a shambles the court system is in when judges are forced into the position of having to remit $56000 worth of fines at a time in relation to an individual who appears in the District Courts in the lower half of the South Island. We have seen that reparation payments are not met and cannot be pursued or tracked down because the court system is in crisis. 
None of these issues was given serious policy consideration during the Budget rounds. The only thing this Government was interested in was stitching up a messy little deal with New Zealand First in an attempt to tie it down for the next 12 months. That is bad government and it is appalling financial management. It is one of the many reasons why Dr Michael Cullen has just read his last Budget. Nothing happens by accident in the Labour Party. Anybody who thinks the front-page story in the  
Sunday Star-Times 
 was not fully authorised by a silent nod from the ninth floor is very naive indeed. The usual kite-flying exercise went on. The usual back-door negotiations are under way for the dignified exit of a number of back-bench MPs who in select committees today are getting rattier testier and more brassed off by the minute. 
Members on this side of the House will not give an inch. We will be making sure at every select committee in every legislative debate and during every question time that this Government is put to the test. The cracks that are starting to appear will quickly turn into large large ditches and it will be very interesting to see how the Government manages to hold on. Although the members of the front bench may have sat and smiled through gritted teeth while Judith Tizard did her best to stumble through question No. 1 today they have only to swivel their heads to the Labour back bench to get a reading on what is really going on. They are not happy.  
Hon Bill English 
: Why are they keeping Judith? Why isn’t she on the managed-exit list? 
SIMON POWER 
: Mr English raises a good question. There has to be a good reason in all of this as to why Judith Tizard’s name has never appeared on the managed-exit list. Why is that? One would have to imagine—[ 
Interruption 
] Well it cannot be because of workload. 
Hon Bill English 
: Because she’s a rising star? 
SIMON POWER 
: She cannot be a rising star because she has not moved from her seat in 6½ years. The real question is why the Prime Minister does not just come out and tell those members that they are gone. Why does she not just do the decent upfront thing cull them out and bring in such stars as the woman from Southland—whose name I cannot remember—who was here for a quarter of an hour in the last Parliament? She will make a huge difference to the way in which this House runs. 
Members on this side of the House have no confidence in the Budget no confidence in this Government and no confidence in this Prime Minister. Their time is nearly up.