Dalziel Lianne: General Debate 
Dalziel Lianne: General Debate 
[Volume:635;Page:6303] 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Minister of Commerce) 
: 
 Leading off the National Party’s contribution today was one Nick Smith. How long was he deputy leader of the National Party? Can anyone remember how long that was? 
Jill Pettis 
: A month? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: I do not think it was that long. Was it a month? I am not sure. [ 
Interruption 
] Five minutes—I think he was there for 5 minutes. Members might recall that he turned up to that caucus meeting as the numbers man for Bill English. He had all the numbers in the bag. He left that meeting without Bill English as his leader; Don Brash was the leader and he Nick Smith was the deputy leader. He went in as the numbers man for Bill English and came out the deputy leader. It was very strange behaviour indeed. I saw signs of very strange behaviour again when he led off the general debate today. In fact I do not know why Don Brash did not participate in this debate. I do not know why he bothered to turn up to Parliament this week. It is a very good question as to why he was not asking questions in the House today. I suppose that valedictory questions are in order. I suppose if one is not giving a valedictory speech then valedictory questions might be in order due to the propensity of the National Party to order spring rolls at this time of the year. 
As Annette King highlighted in her contribution to the debate Mr Bolger was rolled in November Mrs Shipley was rolled in October and Bill English was rolled in October. It is time for another spring roll and I am sure a November roll is being ordered from the menu again. When we think about it all the ingredients are there: a disgruntled former leader a hapless current leader a disappointed back bench and of course the key ingredient—with the emphasis on the word “Key”—a pretender to the throne. I have to say that the back-bench members though are pretty confused. We hear them talking about it and some of them feel they owe their parliamentary seats to Don Brash. Certainly he has a cosy relationship with the Exclusive Brethren who delivered pamphlets filled with lies about this Government and lies about the Green Party which is a tactic they have used in other countries. Even the National Party candidates who were a bit embarrassed and did not want to be associated with the Exclusive Brethren could feel one step removed as Don Brash had embraced them on their behalf. 
So on the one hand these back-benchers feel like they owe their seats to Don Brash but on the other hand he embarrasses them every time he opens his mouth. Yesterday we saw another example of that. Don Brash had been briefed about the stadium issues by Murray McCully. Everyone remembers him saying when he was here in the House how well briefed he had been by Murray McCully. Yet on the way into the House he told Television One he had not been briefed at all. Which statement was correct? [ 
Interruption 
] Oh that was before he saw Mr McCully I hear the member interject. This was in the House after question No. 1. When did Mr Brash get this extensive briefing from Mr McCully? I do not think that a tap on the shoulder from Mr McCully in the House is something that I would particularly want to have happen. It is just hopeless behaviour and no wonder the back bench is embarrassed. 
Don Brash is even reported in the  
Listener 
 this week as saying there was a bit of headcounting about 6 weeks ago. Why would he do that? Why would he confirm that the count was on and that the numbers were being done? He might think that it is in his interests because he says he does not sense any mood for change but I do not think that he senses much of anything. It is a little bit like Mr Magoo without his glasses on; he cannot really see what is happening and he has no sense of what is going on. How is that a confident statement from a confident leader? I do not believe it is. Even National Party supporters when they are polled have John Key as their preferred leader. I think the bottom line is that Don Brash is yesterday’s man. I think we can assign him to political dog-tucker. 
The only contender now though is John Key. There ain’t no one else in this race. All the rest have been written off and Mr Key knows this. He was on Canterbury TV recently. I was flicking through the channels and I found this interview so I decided to watch it. Every time it was put to him that he was expected to be leader of the National Party—indeed Prime Minister of New Zealand which I thought was an oxymoron—he deflected the question. Every single time there was no flat denial of this ambition at all. He did not once disavow the interviewer of his desire to take on the top job and that is because that is the job he wants. It is because he does not want to be on the record because he is doing the numbers now.