O'Connor Damien: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
O'Connor Damien: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:629;Page:1212] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 If listeners did not know that was the best speech of the night from the National Party and it came from one of the young up-and-coming dynamic National Party MPs who have come into the House Mr Bob Clarkson. Tired old MPs—people like Brian Connell who has been tossed aside—will be worried that people like Mr Clarkson have come in to take over and push them out of the way. 
The other tired old person in the National Party who should be worried is the leader Mr Don Brash. Well it would not be fair for me to use my own words but it would be fair to use Dr Brash’s words. Let me quote: “If I deliver I’m secure. If I don’t deliver I’m history.” Well Don you are history. You have it bang on. 
We have had a couple of other fine honest speeches in the House tonight. One was from Mr Coleman. He said: “Don’s on the right track.” Well you are on the track Don but you are on the rails—a bit like the Kelburn cable car that Mr Blumsky over there is so proud of. You are heading downhill very very quickly and you should look around behind you. Look around Don— 
Anne Tolley 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. Once again we have the Chair being brought into the discussion. The Minister should know better. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: We have been a bit lenient tonight. A number of members have done that on several occasions. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: I apologise. Don Brash’s days are numbered because the National Party under his leadership cannot work out what it stands for. It cannot work out a direction. It has flip-flopped over every single policy that it has laid down in front of the people of this country with the most recent being the nuclear ships policy. 
We know that Murray McCully is the last of the loony liberals. Murray McCully has been known for years and years as being a closet liberal. Well he finally came out of the closet the other day and said: “I think that our nuclear policy is a load of codswallop.” I think Murray McCully is right. The problem is that Don Brash Lockwood Smith and all the National Party members went out on the hustings and said: “We will stick to our nuclear policy.” because they think they need guidance from the US in all things. 
Craig Foss 
: Let’s talk about prisons. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: I will talk about prisons in a moment. I am very happy to talk about prisons. 
On Maori policy Treaty issues and asset sales National has done a flip-flop. You name it—the National Party flip-flops on everything like a colony of barking seals every time. Every time National lays down a policy before the people of New Zealand someone will pipe up and say: “No sorry we have got to change that.” Well when the National Party can establish an identity and it has a leader who has support from each and every one of its members then maybe it will make some progress. In the meantime we will lead this country into the future in the same way that we have led it for the last 6 years. 
Of course not everything the National Party does is a flip-flop; the Orewa III speech was just a flop. I tell Don that that was just a flop. Mr Coleman exposed himself— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: Dr Coleman. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: Dr Coleman—sorry. Which kind of doctor is Dr Coleman? Does he make us sick or make us well? 
Dr Coleman exposed what a true Tory is. He said: “New Zealanders don’t like welfare.” Well most people in this country understand that welfare is the bottom line that makes this country different from most other countries throughout the world. It was built on a welfare system that ensured that every young New Zealander regardless of one’s race and upbringing had a fair opportunity to a good house to a good education and ultimately to a good job—if one had a Labour Government. 
Dr Coleman just exposed the fact that most of those National Party MPs many of them born with a silver spoon in their mouth want to dismantle the welfare system of this country. If they get their hands on the levers of power in this country ever again that is exactly what they will do. They will sell assets dismantle the welfare system and privatise the health system. We can be sure of that. 
It is very important to go back to a couple of key issues. The difference between the Labour Government and the National Party is leadership. We know where we are going. The Prime Minister laid out in her speech in this House yesterday where we are going for the next 3 years. When Don Brash got up he did not know where he was going. And the National Party does not know where it is going. That is the problem because National Party members do not know who they should follow. Is it Tom and Jerry or Bill and Gerry or John and Gerry? Who is it? 
We can look not too far back in history and see what happened. On 3 April 2005 Dr Brash said: “Bill English has my full support.” Yeah right! John Key has come out more recently and said: “I have very publicly on dozens of occasions outlined my unconditional support for him. I actively worked hard and will continue to work hard to ensure that he is a very successful leader.” I say to John that he has failed the first challenge because he has not assisted Don Brash to become a successful leader. Don Brash is a failed leader and John Key’s endorsement is that he is a failed supporter. So National Party members do not know who they have got to follow. 
Dr Brash has said: “There’s been nothing which you could call a coherent or organised plot.” I say to Don that he should look again. John Key said: “There is no grand master plan behind the scenes like we go after him after six months.” Well they might give him 9 months. The question is: where does that leave the National Party? 
I take the opportunity to emphasise once again that Labour has shown strong leadership for this country for 6 years. It has led us through to the lowest level of unemployment in the Western World and we continue to have low inflation and strong economic growth that has outperformed just about every other country in the OECD. That is because we have leadership. The Labour Government has leadership. We have unity and a sense of purpose that the National Party does not have. 
The problem is that the National Party is looking for some leadership. In the past it has looked to the US. National has looked to that friendly country over the Pacific the US and has said that it would have been in Iraq because it wanted to be there with its friend the United States. 
One thing I will never forget about being in this Parliament is that I was in a Government that refused to be drawn into that war and that hundreds if not thousands of New Zealanders remain alive today because Helen Clark led the Labour Government. If Don Brash had been Prime Minister he would have killed thousands of New Zealanders by rushing into the Iraq situation. That issue alone is enough to say that the Labour Government has led this country properly for the last 6 years. 
Anne Tolley 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I have been tolerant because you have said that you were letting things go. However that member has continued throughout his 10 minutes now to refer to our leader by a name other than the name that has already been ruled on in the House today as the way he should be addressed. His correct address is Dr Don Brash—not Don or Don Brash but Dr Don Brash. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: Madam Speaker— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: I am sorry but the member’s time has expired. 
Debate interrupted.