Cunliffe David: General Debate 
Cunliffe David: General Debate 
[Volume:649;Page:18002] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Health) 
: 
 The irony of the deputy leader of the National Party vouching for the word of the largest donor to the Labour Party will not be lost on New Zealanders. The Labour Party has taken an extremely principled approach to this issue. The National Party bothered to ask the Prime Minister today whether she had sought a fresh assurance from the member the Rt Hon Winston Peters and she confirmed to the House that she had—that she had received that assurance. The Speaker earlier today made clear once again the convention that applies to all members of this House—that a member’s word is to be accepted but if there is a disproof of that word there is a consequence. The Speaker has underlined that there is a proper process for that to be ascertained and that is called a hearing by the Privileges Committee. All members and all parties that are part of that process are bound by the confidence of that process but that does not appear to have dawned on the deputy leader of the National Party who cannot stand the heat in the kitchen. The deputy leader of the National Party has now changed his mind; he thinks the kitchen is a good idea. No he has not changed: “God lights—I’ve got a John Key policy announcement.” No—yes he thinks it is too hot. So now he has decided he will go somewhere else and think about it because he knows that he has breached the confidence of the Privileges Committee process by jumping to a conclusion. 
I want to say something different today which might surprise some members. I like Maurice Williamson. I like the fact that he has ideas. 
Hon Members 
: What? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: Quite seriously I like the fact that he has ideas and I like the fact that he is not shy to debate them. I might disagree with the ideas but I like the fact that he will run those flags up the flagpole. Why? I say the public deserves the debate. There is an election coming along and I say: “Bring it on!”. But I say to bring it on in the good old-fashioned way to bring it on in terms of the best traditions of Kiwi democracy which is that that lot opposite will put forward their ideas and our lot will put forward our ideas and that lot out there can decide who they like the best. What is not right is when our lot puts up our ideas but that lot does a soft-shoe shuffle to pretend that either they have not got any ideas or they have but they are not telling. That is not only unethical; it is anti-democratic and it flies in the face of the highest traditions for which this country stands. 
This week we got to see that phenomenon again. We could call it the “CT disease”; Crosby/Textor invented it. National members did not want us to hear the plan to sell Kiwibank so there was an instant retraction from Bill English. They did not want us to know about plans to privatise the Accident Compensation Corporation—that plan had to dribble out through John Key’s private network at Merrill Lynch—and they certainly did not want us to know about lifting the cap on general practitioner fees so in National’s whole health discussion document they just forgot to mention it. You know Tony Ryall’s credibility has never ever recovered from that faux pas. Trust in him has gone; trust in National’s health policy has gone because National did not put in its discussion document its single biggest policy. Can we see a trend here ladies and gentlemen? Can we see a trend? National forgot to tell us about plans to privatise schools; that just leapt out in  
Agenda 
 on Sunday. Kate Wilkinson reminded us about plans to get rid of KiwiSaver and was told to shut up. 
The point is that whether or not New Zealanders agree with the policy they deserve better. They deserve a fair honest debate. They deserve to have the honour of knowing what National’s policy actually is so they can decide whether they like it. Let us face it: if at the end of the day the judgment of the public is that they prefer National’s policy—God help them—to ours then they will make that judgment and we will all live with it. But the point is that they cannot make that decision because National is not dignifying New Zealanders with the truth. It is not dignifying them with the facts. It is not dignifying them with the policy but it is using the smokescreen of squabbling between Rodney Hide and Winston Peters to try to cloud the real issue which is a sleepwalk to an election with National pulling the wool over the eyes of ordinary New Zealanders. 
Getting back to Maurice Williamson I tell the House that three things are wrong with the $50-a-week toll charge. The first is just a simple statement of the obvious: Maurice thinks that $50 is no particular cost and that shows a desperate lack of understanding of the plight of ordinary Kiwis.