Street Maryan: General Debate 
Street Maryan: General Debate 
[Volume:631;Page:3567] 
MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 I want to talk today in this general debate about the vacuum where National’s policy ought to be. A lack of leadership is reflected in a lack of policy. In recent times a lot of sound and fury has come from National Party members signifying nothing. We have seen them join the ranks of the barking over the microchipping law implementation—the original legislation that at least in part they supported at the time of its passage. We have seen them braying over possible disruption from industrial action in the health sector when a Labour-led Government attached the health sector code of good faith as a schedule to its Employment Relations Act—a code that guarantees the maintenance of life-preserving services in the event of industrial action. 
That measure was put through by a Labour-led Government. It was done in a way that represents this Labour-led Government’s way of proceeding—by consultation and by getting parties together to agree. In the present situation the district health boards and the unions have agreed through negotiation and arbitration on systems that need to be put into place to ensure that life-preserving services are provided during any industrial action. That is a careful balance protecting both the safety of the public and workers’ right to withdraw their labour. The process was arrived at a couple of years ago in the form of a code of good faith. That code has recently been added to the Employment Relations Act. It is an effective and a balanced measure. 
Further Parliament has recently approved financial appropriations for the 2006-07 Budget. The best the National Opposition could do was to ritualistically trot out half-hearted speeches in opposition. I have used three out of numerous examples I could use to demonstrate the lack of policy alternatives put up by the National Opposition. The National Party looks like an unfocused lobby group. It is a band looking for a wagon. It leaps upon any noisy issue to maximise activity but completely lacks effectiveness. 
Why is that? The reason is its lack of policy. No alternative Budget has been put up. Numbers of National MPs are secretly very impressed by this Government’s investment in infrastructure. We are putting billions of dollars into public transport roads and infrastructure and that will clearly move our country forward. What does the National Opposition offer? Nothing! It simply offers sound and fury signifying nothing. 
Why can those members opposite not offer this country an alternative? There are two reasons. First of all they are incapable of devising alternatives and secondly they are incapable of agreeing on what the alternatives should be. What do we know about their current policies and the real agenda of their current leader? Let us go to a couple of quotations. In his term as leader of the National Party Dr Brash has said: “And I don’t want us to be afraid of the electorate by watering down our message.” He said: “I have a personal view and at this point I am not expressing it.” He has said things of that order that have led commentators to say things such as this quotation from the  
New Zealand Herald 
: “Brash brings with him a baggage of extremist economic policies that thankfully I had thought had been rejected by mainstream political parties. It’s as though the mistakes and excesses of the past 20 years have passed him by unseen.” Further the  
Sunday Star-Times 
 states: “… the voice of ignorance narrow political advantage and selfishness: the voice of Don Brash.” 
I will tell this House what New Zealanders see in this Labour-led Government. They see secure confident leadership. They see capable and dedicated front-bench members. They see a united caucus driving forward with a clear agenda to transform this economy for the benefit of all to support families to get on and to build pride in New Zealand’s unique national identity. All three of those characteristics are completely lacking in the Opposition.