English BillGENERAL DEBATERt Hon BILL ENGLISH (Leader of the Opposition): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business.It couldn't have been summed up better than in those last few sentences where the Minister of Open Government" stands firmly for the right of the Opposition to ask questions and firmly against the Government's obligation to answer them—just one more example of the chaotic start of this weak Government with a big cheque book that's already trying to hide what it does.This week we've had the opportunity in Parliament to discuss the secret coalition agreement and we have established at least one thing: it exists. It exists; it's in a safe according to the Deputy Prime Minister; and some Ministers have it. We've also established one other clear thing: the Prime Minister Ms Ardern does not want it released. Here's a simple question: who looks more comfortable talking about the secret coalition agreement and its possible release? Well it's Mr Winston Peters. He is the one who—whoever thought we'd be relying on him for telling it how it is? That's how low the standard is for the new Government. He's the one who's described what's in it: directives to Ministers content about how the coalition should conduct itself—that all seems perfectly reasonable in the context of this unusual coalition Government. He's also said it would be released. He's quite happy about it.Well there's someone who isn't happy about it being released and I just want to speculate about why. Winston Peters is happy to see it released because it will show the extent of New Zealand First influence in the new coalition. The Prime Minister is very unhappy that it might be released because it will show the extent of influence of New Zealand First in the new coalition. It does help answer one of the mystery questions: why has New Zealand First given away so much policy? There's none of the anti-Māori policy you'd expect from the rhetoric from the election campaign they've given away whatever it was on immigration they wanted to achieve and "anti-foreigner" has been taken over by the Labour Party. Are New Zealand First members and voters happy about the campaign to get Manus Island refugees here? I suspect not. Did they agree with the partners of sole parents not having to reveal their names so they'd have to contribute to the support of their children? I bet not. So why did they give it all away? Well it must be because of the influence contained in this document and that is why it is of so much public interest—so much public interest. For instance it's probably the key to how they manage the Greens. As we pointed out before Labour hopes that putting the Greens down there and New Zealand First there means they'll forget that each other is in the Government.But does it contain as speculated a New Zealand First effective right of veto over all appointments and over the Budget? I think that's really important. You see the published coalition document is certainly now no longer a reliable guide to what this Government does. I mean you look at that coalition document. Pick a number and then halve it and that's what they'll probably do. It's not what they said they'd do but half of it. Where it says they will do something it probably means they won't do something. We've seen so much backsliding and turning back on the backsliding to try and make sense of the regional development fund how many trees are going to be planted how many houses are going to be built—all the things that actually matter in reality and actually aren't about intentions.We have watched a circus over recent days over the secret coalition document. The Prime Minister in particular has said "It's a list of policies that might come to light." and that compares with the description of the Deputy Prime Minister who says "It's a set of directives to Ministers about how the coalition will work." There can only be one of them that's right. And this is the leadership of the new Government. The Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister cannot agree on a public description of a secret document that's at the heart of how they work. That is why so many New Zealanders are rapidly losing confidence in this Government."