Williamson Maurice: General Debate 
Williamson Maurice: General Debate 
[Volume:641;Page:11581] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (National—Pakuranga) 
: 
 I am delighted to take a call after that speech. First of all I just say to the Hon Annette King that National was in Government for 9 years and left the anti-nuclear legislation exactly where it was. So that is not some new-found school of thought for us. We left it there because we agreed with it. 
But the real point of my speech today is to make the point that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I think I am the only member in the House today who was here in the late 1980s—except for yourself Mr Assistant Speaker—and I can tell members that the stench of death that is starting to surround this Government is the same stench that surrounded the Labour Government in the late 1980s and in 1990. I will give some quotes a little later on from the Rt Hon Mike Moore who has had some lovely things to say and who was actually the leader of the Labour Party during that massive “calypso collapso”. 
New Zealanders are now saying a couple of things on a regular basis. I know that Labour members will be hearing this comment: “I cannot believe how Helen Clark was such a good manager and had such a great Government when Labour came into power and how Labour members have just lost it now. They have now just lost the plot.” There have been many scandals running around and many Ministers having to be fired. More Ministers have been fired than I think in the history of this Parliament ever. 
I want to remind the House about two of the incoming Prime Minister’s quotes. Helen Clark said: “We will bring new standards to politics.” That is what she said. Well people should ask the I think 11 Ministers who have had to be sacked because of their behaviour about that comment. Members should ask the public about those 11 Ministers. Helen Clark talked about new standards aspirational politics and an inclusive society. Is that what this country has now? No it is not—not according to the public and I can tell members not according to Mike Moore. The other thing Helen Clark said was that her Government would take us into the top half of the OCED for GDP per capita—for income; for wealth. Actually when Labour came to power we were 22nd in the OECD and now we are 23rd. We have actually slipped one place under the great economic transformation miracle of the Labour Government. 
But the worst thing of all can I think be summarised by what Mike Moore had to say the other day. I think he hit a very very good nail right on the head. He said that we now have a Prime Minister who is involved in the nasty dirty personality politics— 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: Oh rubbish! 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: It is not the National Party saying that I say to Mr Horomia. That was said by a former Labour Prime Minister. Mike Moore is still a member of the Labour Party and he is still proud to say he keeps on raising money for Labour but he says there is now a nasty technique of personally destroying opponents intimidating the media and using of levers of Government to create stunts and diversions in order to buy votes. That is what Mike Moore said about this current rotten Government. 
I think New Zealanders are starting very strongly to believe Mike Moore. They have had enough of stuff like the Taito Phillip Field issue where Helen Clark set up an inquiry by Noel Ingram QC gave him no power made a whitewash of the findings and then defended Taito Phillip Field for month after month in this House until it was too late. Then it was all over and Taito Phillip Field was out and gone. We saw the same with regard to the David Benson-Pope stuff the Madeleine Setchell issue and so on. Helen Clark said that they had done nothing wrong and that National Party members were a bunch of evils. So Labour then went for John Key’s personal wealth—that is what they attacked. 
New Zealanders are sick of those sorts of politics. They would really really like to hear us debate some issues and not start to get into that sort of stuff. What was John Key’s greatest crime? He came from a State house from a solo family and actually made his way in life. As Mike Moore says why are Labour members attacking that? What is wrong with that? He said—and I think this is a great quote—that is bit rich “coming from people many of whom went to exclusive schools enjoyed a comfortable upbringing and didn’t even have to work during university holidays”. That is exactly right—it is a bit rich for people on the Government side of the House to attack John Key. I think we should all be very proud to see a New Zealander do what he did and make of himself what he did. We should all hope that lots more people are as successful in life as him. But oh no the nasty bitter vitriol comes out. 
Mike Moore also had a few other things to say which another of my colleagues will be able to cover.