Cosgrove Clayton: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Cosgrove Clayton: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 21 July 2010. Volume:665;Page:12540. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
: 
 After a couple of days of watching this debacle with Gerry Brownlee I tried to do some research into how best to describe him and I can do no better than to quote from the Christchurch  
Press 
. Oh how the mighty have fallen! If we look back to 9 May last year we find this headline in the  
Press 
: “Gerry on the job”. Mr Brownlee was described as the Ilam MP who was the third most powerful politician in New Zealand. The might the glory the influence! Then as I thumbed through the article— 
Louise Upston 
: You’re just jealous! 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: Hell no not after the last couple of days. At the end of this article about Mr Brownlee it states “What others say”. The first quote was from a guy called David Henderson from Christchurch. Some Canterbury members may know this guy. He is fighting off bankruptcy day after day as a property developer as we speak. I am told by reliable sources that he is the best mate of Gerry Brownlee. Mr Henderson is a business person whom I know the National Party and the ACT Party admire and here is what he said about Mr Brownlee: “A nice guy but completely useless.” That is what the mates of “Gerry on the job” say about him. I disagree; there is no egg on Gerry’s face—it would not last long enough especially if it were fried. 
But what has been demonstrated over the last couple of days is that Gerry Brownlee who wanted to put not a line in the sand but a trench in the sand—he is quicksand in Cabinet—wanted to make his mark on history. He went out like the veritable political blunderbuss that he is and said: “We’re going to dig big holes in places where no one wants us to do that. We’re going to dig up gold. There is gold in them there hills. This is going to happen.” and that was reinforced by his Prime Minister who was pop-riveted to this policy. Then yesterday or the day before Gerry was stuck out on a pole—I will grant that it was a big one—at the press conference aided and abetted by the ghost that walks Kate Wilkinson the person who never fronts on the hard stuff. If one asks her about the cut in general practitioner services in Rangiora she is nowhere to be seen. She agrees with it and I will come to that in due time. Kate Wilkinson was stuck out there at the press conference but said absolutely nothing. She would not front the issue and it has been a complete debacle from start to finish. 
I ask as David Parker did where the aspiration is. Where is the step change? Where is the great plan and economic development vision for New Zealand? We had one and we delivered on it through 9 years in Government and the employment rates and economic growth proved it. But where are the words that we heard about before the election such as aspiration? Where is Gerry Brownlee now? I feel a bit sorry for him. He is stuck out there. He has to huff and puff and stamp his feet and try to tell everybody that he listened. 
If this is now a listening reformed reinvented National Government why does it not say that to say the 72 percent of people in my electorate on $40000 or less a year who will get a meagre tax cut that will be negated by a 2.5 percent increase in GST and by 5.9 percent inflation which means they will be worse off by 30 to 50 bucks a week? If it is a listening reformed reinvented and now very silent Government will it back down on that policy which constituents in my patch have borne the brunt of? Will it reverse the policy if it finds that the 90-day expansion will put the sword not only into young people but also into others? Will a person in a job who wants to take a promotion to a new job take a risk on a 90-day deal as opposed to a bird in the hand a permanent job? If that proves to be correct which it will do will the Government back down on that? Will it U-turn on that? No. Is it a listening Government? No. Mr Key has not articulated any plan at all. From 70 jobs on a cycleway to a 2025 Taskforce that was dead buried assassinated and nailed to the ground within 24 hours of its recommendations being brought out— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: And we’re still paying for it! 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: According to my colleague we are still paying for it. Where is the plan? I ask Kate Wilkinson who got up and did her usual and told us a few stories here and there about certain people she had talked to who might have supported the 90-day bill whether she articulated a plan. No she did not. Did Gerry Brownlee articulate a plan? No. But these people certainly have egg on their faces. It has been a debacle from start to finish. There is only one reason that they backed down and it is that the people of New Zealand revolted against them on that policy.