Dalziel Lianne: General Debates 
Dalziel Lianne: General Debates 
[Volume:618;Page:13863] 
LIANNE DALZIEL (Labour—Christchurch East) 
: 
 This debate gives the Government the opportunity to warn the people of New Zealand of the dangers associated with a party that has a tradition of saying one thing before a general election and another thing right after that election. In fact it has become so traditional with one party that it could be called a “National pastime”. I think that is true. That is National with a capital “N”. 
Not one single New Zealander believes that National should it ever gain office would not take steps to amend or repeal the nuclear-free legislation and I am sure that National will never gain office because of that policy. I heard Dr Brash say on television last night that National wanted to act in the best interests of the people of New Zealand which is why it would not amend the nuclear-free legislation. However National’s own internal review of the legislation recommended precisely that it was in New Zealand’s interests to amend it. Dr Brash has not resiled from that report at all and that is because he believes in every single word of it. He would love to be upfront with the people of New Zealand and say it was in their best interests because he believed it was in their best interests. But he cannot say that because National’s polling has told it that its standing in the polls would be affected. National has not pulled its policy on the nuclear-free issue on a point of principle; it has simply pulled its policy on a point of polling. That is why most New Zealanders do not believe that that policy is off the table at all. 
The difficulty with Dr Brash is that he thinks the expression “the national interest” is one that has National spelt with a capital “N”. That announcement is about National’s interest—the National Party’s interest. It is nothing more than a cynical attempt to create a false sense of security. But as the TV3 poll confirms the general public is not as foolish as Dr Brash seems to think they are. They know exactly how the National Party operates and it matters not one jot that the leader has changed. It is a National pastime to say one thing before an election and do something else afterwards. National always does that. The public knows that the “puppet on a string” which Dr Brash is well known as is quite capable of speaking out of both sides of his mouth depending on who is pulling the string. If it is the Americans he says one thing; if it is the pollsters he says another. That is what happens with Dr Brash. 
I call it the 15-year pitch. Every 15 years the National Party pitches to the electorate and then runs away with the ball. In 1975 it was the dancing Cossacks on the television screen that signalled the biggest bribe in electoral history. Imagine if National had not won the 1975 election and the New Zealand Superannuation Corporation had survived to the present day. National stole from my parents’ generation the ability to create a sustainable superannuation fund into the future. 
In 1990 it was “no ifs no buts no maybes”. That was a cast-iron guarantee from Mr Bolger that the surcharge would go. Did it go? No it did not. What was worse the National Government increased the age of eligibility over a shorter period than it had promised. 
What will the next 15-year pitch be in 2005? I do not think that National will be upfront. It knows that Dr Brash wants to abandon the Superannuation Fund. He wants to lift the age of entitlement to 70 years and he wants to lower the relativity to the average wage. 
My firm belief is that superannuation will be a key election issue next year and I welcome that fact. Labour has a proud track record on superannuation which we can take to the electorate. National has an appalling record of treachery in that regard and New Zealanders simply cannot afford to risk losing the gains we have made.