Tolley Anne: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Tolley Anne: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 20 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8714. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Police) 
: 
 It is no secret in this House that I am very fond of Dr Seuss. I have to say that the debacle around David Shearer led me back to good old Dr Seuss and I just want to start with a quick quote from  
Oh the Places You’ll Go!. 
 It says: “You’ll get mixed up … as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act … never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.” 
If we are talking right feet and left feet you could not ask for anything better than David Shearer’s left and right suggestions. On the one hand he is saying: “I think the fact that Banks forgot $50000 is laughable. He should stand down.” and on the left of this picture with his left foot in his mouth again he is saying: “I honestly forgot the spare $50000 in my US bank account.” The story that we are asked to believe and that New Zealanders are asked to believe is that David Shearer fills in a tax return every year and declares this US bank account. Every year he fills that out. We have to take his word for it that he does actually put it in. But when he comes to filling in Parliament’s declaration of pecuniary interests—for listeners that is just a list of the interests the assets the debts and the gifts that you have received as a member of Parliament—he forgets to put in his US bank account with I do not know $50k $100k $200k or however much is in it. 
I am a reasonable person and I want to believe that David Shearer is honest and that it was a genuine mistake but he did not do it just one time. He did not do it just twice. He did not do it just three times. He did it four times—four times. He filled in his tax return and he filled in his pecuniary interests and it was not there. Hallelujah! So now you have to say that there are huge double standards displayed here and that is no surprise because Labour members are at it all the time. We have come to expect that from them. But I have to say that even the most generous person could not possibly think that you could make that genuine mistake four times—4 years. 
I went and looked up David Shearer’s CV. It says lots of nice things about him and I have always thought he was a nice man. 
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: He’s a nice guy. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: A nice man—yes a really nice man. What a shame he is the leader of the Labour Party but you know. He says in it: “My belief in social justice naturally led me to the Labour Party.” He says lots of other things. He has got experience in running large-scale relief operations. He has got considerable managerial and financial skills. He has got all of those skills and that is all very nice. He remembered to fill in his tax returns he remembered to put into his pecuniary interests his Westpac account but he forgot a stash in New York of $100k. 
Hon John Banks 
: A secret stash. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: We think it is $100k—a secret stash. He forgot to put that in. 
He espouses social justice. He berates John Key—one of the most successful businessmen in New Zealand who has become Prime Minister—for being rich and successful but he forgets that he has got a secret bank account in the US— 
Grant Robertson 
: No secret. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: —with more than $50k. Well it was secret for 4 years because nobody else knew about it. Shearer refuses to believe that another parliamentarian could forget $50k—he refuses. Hold that picture up: “I think the fact that Mr Banks forgot $50000 is laughable. He should stand down.” So he is not prepared to accept that a parliamentary colleague could forget $50000 but he forgets maybe $100000 or $500000. Who knows how much it is? He will not tell us. It could be an enormous amount. He demanded John Banks’ resignation. In fact he demanded that the Prime Minister dismiss him because he could not remember $50000.