Pettis Jill: General Debate 
Pettis Jill: General Debate 
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JILL PETTIS (Labour) 
: 
 I am very pleased to join the debate this afternoon because I am proud to talk about what a Labour Government has delivered to the people of New Zealand. We are interested in the concerns of all New Zealanders and we have delivered on that in a multitude of ways. On 1 July this year we are extending subsidies to those aged 45 to 64 when they visit their primary health organisations. That is a wonderful policy and I am very proud that we are delivering on the policies we went to the electorate with at the last election and the election before that. 
We are providing greater subsidies for early childhood education which is critical to the future education of our young New Zealanders. Paid parental leave is being extended to the self-employed and it was tragic that “dancing Rodney” and “firing blanks Heather Roy” were absent when we voted on those very key policy issues. Paid parental leave is good for women and it is good for families but both of those ACT MPs were absent from the House. 
The rates rebate scheme is excellent for older New Zealanders and delivers directly a policy that Labour has campaigned on for years. The National Land Transport Programme is building more roads and improving road safety in our constituencies and is helping to keep New Zealanders alive as we improve the condition of our roads. 
I have to say that the “speaking out of both sides of their mouth” attitude of the National Party members with regard to the microchipping of dogs will be remembered by many New Zealanders for a very very long time. National voted for the third reading of the 2003 bill that included microchipping. The third reading is the last chance a party has to object to a Government bill and the National members lined up and voted for it. But now that the heat has gone on they are getting lily-livered turning to jelly at the knees and being populist. They forget that they voted for the current bill at its first reading in 2006. Well some of us have not forgotten that. 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Jellimeat parliamentarians. 
JILL PETTIS 
: Jellimeat parliamentarians absolutely! I mention that because it is an indication of the extreme measures that National members will go to—anything for a vote. 
But fortunately the majority of New Zealanders are astute and they are awake to National. The reality of the matter is that National is not revealing its real extreme agenda because it knows that fair-minded New Zealanders would bolt in horror if they learnt what National reallystands for. National stands for extreme policies that would be bad for the majority of New Zealanders. Brash knows that if he revealed the truth the National Party would be totally unelectable. Brash has said some very extreme things. He has admitted and I quote: “I’d work with the Devil to get rid of this Government.” He said that on  
One News 
 on 29 October. I suggest that he already is in cahoots with the Devil and it is called the Exclusive Brethren. Those people donated $1.2 million to National but Mr Brash could not remember it. On 5 September he said that oh no no he did not know who was responsible for the pamphlets but then only 3 days later he said he knew some pamphlets were going to be delivered. The partnership between that sect that cult and National members will haunt them at the next election campaign I can assure them. 
The other part of National’s policy that is horrifying to fair-minded New Zealanders is employers being able to sack workers within 90 days of employing them. That comes at a time when we have the lowest unemployment rate in the OECD and Brash says: “The main benefit of this bill is that it will give people who now find it hellishly hard to get a job a better chance of doing so.” That is a quote from Brash. The “Sacked in 90 Days” bill that National supports is about giving employers the right to sack any worker without any justification being given at all. It is absolutely outrageous. It shows that National has no sense of justice and no sense of what is fair. And it is not just the low-paid workers the low-skilled workers who would be affected. The “sacked in 90 days” bill would affect teachers public servants and academics; it would affect all New Zealanders.