Curran ClareHon CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): When Gerry Brownlee got up at the beginning of this debate and said he was introducing a new word—omnishambles" which actually I've heard lots of times before—I thought he was talking about the National Party because it's been a long time since that party that caucus has had to do any real thinking and the National Party that Opposition is all over the place. So I'm going to introduce a new phrase this afternoon and that's called "cognitive dissonance" which is really that they can't work out what they think. Are they liberal or are they conservative?Are they liberal? Last week they staged a walkout and then hours later they voted against the Employment Relations Amendment Bill which will stop employers from being able to dock the pay of workers—stop employers and they walked out but they voted against the bill. So it's one rule for them and another rule for everyone else. Or are they conservative? This week Simon Bridges described the medicinal marijuana law as decriminalisation by stealth. I'd note that this bill sets up a statutory defence to allow those who are close to death in palliative care to consume illicit marijuana with a legal defence if prosecuted. But Simon Bridges believes it's a slippery slope resulting in big chunks of people smoking dope outside schools with the police unable to do anything about it.That reminded me of my seventh form year and the dire warnings of my then principal Sister Ambrose whom I describe as a bit of a militant nun warning us as seventh formers of the perils of burning incense which led to going to boys' flats taking drugs having sex and ending up at the venereal disease (VD) clinic! But that wasn't the worst thing. I don't know if everyone knows what VD is—I think we all can guess—but that wasn't the worst bit: the worst bit was ending up at the VD clinic in your school uniform! That was the heinous sin! These days we'd be encouraging a visit to the health clinic or the GP if you had a sexually transmitted disease and making sure that you were provided with good information about safe sex and that's the approach that most schools would take and no doubt parents. But to my mind Simon Bridges is stuck somewhere in the 1970s and keeping up appearances rather than addressing the core issues such as pain relief and quality of life left for the terminally ill and the chronically sick—Mr Cognitive Dissonance.I recognise the phase that the National Party is going through because we were there and my advice is: dig in. It doesn't get any easier. Do the genuine work on policy and try—and this is a message to the backbenches to the newbies—to stay out of the nasty cliques and no matter what happens to you your own sense of dignity and self-respect is actually what really matters. Senior MPs set the tone for the behaviour of the newbies. They come in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed mostly and they want to make change happen but they get caught up in the place. There is a dark side to politics and don't let yourself be dragged there. That's my advice to you. Don't—not just because I'm giving you that advice but because your constituents don't like it and the public don't like it.This is a Government that is cohesive strong collegial and it does know what it stands for. It stands for a better life for more opportunities for New Zealanders and we're getting on with it. Of all of the things that we have done—and I could read you a big long list; I know others have gone through a lot of those things—three things stand out for me: the winter energy payment which has made a real difference; extending the royal commission on the abuse of children in State care to faith institutions—a huge difference; and the culture and attitude change that I'm seeing and that my constituents are seeing in Work and Income staff treating people with respect and care. I thank the Minister for Social Development and the Prime Minister for that; 2019 will be the year of well-being.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed."