Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6474] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 First of all I congratulate Nikki Kaye. She is the only National member who has spoken since 10.30 this morning. 
Hon Members 
: Oh! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: That is right. She is the only National member who has spoken since 10.30 this morning. 
Chris Tremain 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. We canvassed this point earlier today. The Opposition members continue to refer to the absence of members from the Chamber. I think it is totally uncalled for and unnecessary. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I believe the member used his words very carefully. He never referred to the absence of anybody. There is quite a suite of Speakers’ rulings about how members can refer to a member’s participation in the debate without actually talking about the member’s absence. Members have been pretty good about that. The member is skirting with it but he did not break the rules so I will not uphold the point of order. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I know that the senior Government whip is a little sensitive and perhaps a little embarrassed that Government members will not get up and defend a Government bill the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. National members will not get up and defend their bill. 
This point is quite interesting. When there is a bit of a fight across the Chamber things get a bit lively from time to time. Minister Paula Bennett likes a scrap. She jumps on to teenagers in Henderson and pulls them apart. But when we get to the stage of having a debate in the Chamber she says nothing—not a thing at all. All of a sudden having a battle with the Opposition does not seem too appealing and that is a very big pity. I would like to hear what Paula Bennett has to say. She is holding her seat in Parliament by 635 votes. That is all. The people out in the west of Auckland want to hear what she has to say about the super-city the new plan and the new bill. 
Other members are sitting here with the mute button turned on. My very good friend Cam Calder who stood against me in Manurewa worked every day from March until election day knocking on doors and saying how he would represent the people of Manurewa. He has his opportunity now. He has his opportunity during the 16 hours of this debate. But what is he doing? He is sitting there smiling and dreaming about playing pétanque or some other game and how he will be able to go to the community board to ask for some money so people can play that game. I must say that he is the best candidate who has ever stood against me. He actually did some work and I think that is great. Now he can take it one step further: he can get up and have a say. It is all well and good that he is in Parliament and I think he is doing better than Richard Worth but I think he should also start to speak sometimes. He should have something to say on the super-city. That is what we want to hear. What are the member’s views on the super-city? I think that is very important. 
Allan Peachey is another guy who I have a lot of time for. I have a lot of time for him. He should have been the Minister of Education. Everyone knows that. I think he was the principal of Rangitoto College. He is an excellent person and he should have been the Minister of Education. He should get up in the Chamber and start speaking. His colleagues will see that he is better than Anne Tolley if he gets up and starts talking about the super-city because the super-city is very important. 
The other person who I think should get up and start speaking is Melissa Lee. She was one of the first into the debate really because she stood as the National Party candidate in Mt Albert. That was one of the big topics— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: How did that go? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I think it was a close thing. We won by only about 10000 or 12000 votes. The reality is that people cannot defend a Government by silence. The members who are sitting here now with their mouths closed just cannot do it. 
It is interesting. It is a wee bit like an army. John Key is the general his colonel is at Cabinet and probably one or two colonels are working there at the moment. He sends out his sergeant-major. His sergeant-major is Rodney Hide and he makes a lot of noise on the parade ground. He is thumping it out telling the people of Auckland what a wonderful thing they are getting and he has his sergeant John Carter running around behind him. 
At least we know what they think. At least we know what Rodney Hide thinks about this issue. But we do not know what the honourable member Mr Bakshi thinks about it. He sits there silently.