Carter John: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Carter John: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:623;Page:18222] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 The worst thing about listening to a speech like that is that one gets the impression the speaker believes himself. I heard Rick Barker say that someone on average in the Hawke’s Bay in 1999 earned $401 a week and now that person is earning $507 a week. That is a $106 increase. What he failed to tell the House and New Zealand is who has it all. It is not the average person in the Hawke’s Bay. When the extra taxes charges and inflation are taken away that person has gone backwards. But the member would not understand that. 
Tonight I will talk about something that I think is important to New Zealand. I want to talk about some of the history that we see in this House and in this Parliament. If I look across the Chamber I see memorials on the walls to Alamein Crete the Atlantic and other places. I want to talk about the proud history that this country has had in the past its contribution to world peace and where necessary its involvement in peace enforcement. There is a saying that if one wants peace prepare for war. The people who served in the past in this nation’s defence forces were the finest New Zealanders. Those who serve today are the same. Those of us who have had the opportunity to meet with the people in our defence forces are proud of the people who represent us. They are fine fine New Zealanders and I for one am proud to know a good number of them. 
Of course defence is more than just defence. It is about what and who we are—it is about our nation. It is one of our showpieces. It is about peace and security but it is also about trade and foreign affairs—it is about our nation. This country has never in its history been able to defend itself on its own. It has never had the ability the resources or the population to be able to. Our shores are too big our population is too small and our resources are not sufficient. We have never in our history been able to defend our shores against anybody who may have wished to attack us. 
We have always had a collective defence. We have always been in cooperation with our allies—traditionally Australia Great Britain Malaysia the United States and a number of others— 
Hon Mark Burton 
: Singapore. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Singapore. A whole number of nations have been part of our collective defence. Historically New Zealand has always played its part not just in peacekeeping but in peace enforcement. These walls are a memorial to and a history of the part we played. But unfortunately with this Government and the way in which it presents our defence policy sadly one cannot say that any more today. This country and this Government in particular are now seen to be bludgers. The Government has made this country a laughing stock with regard to defence. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: Absolute rubbish! 
JOHN CARTER 
: That Minister sitting over there interjecting knows it. He is embarrassed by the fact that he is the Minister of Defence at a time when this country’s defences are at their absolute lowest. I would not ever want to be that Minister of Defence in this Labour Government. It is a disgrace. This country now absolutely and totally depends on everyone and anyone else other than ourselves to defend itself. 
Oh yes it is true to say that we have played some peacekeeping roles in the world. To be fair—and let me make this very clear because I know that this Labour Government will try to twist my words—the people we have sent overseas in the last 10 to 15 years both under this Government and previous Governments have done an outstanding job in their roles proudly representing New Zealanders. But this Government not our defence forces is an absolute disgrace when it comes to defence. It has led our defence forces to a stage where they are ill-equipped and under-trained. It is this Minister and the Prime Minister Helen Clark who are absolutely and totally responsible for the demise of our defence forces not the defence forces themselves. They are great people but they are expected to survive on pittances and with inadequate equipment. 
Just recently we started taking part in helping people in East Asia to deal with the tsunami. What happened to our Hercules when we sent them over there? What a disgrace and what has this Minister done about it? He has done absolutely nothing. What he is now trying to do is to patch up and put another sticker on it. The Government has had more than 5 years now to get it right and he has allowed the whole thing to run down. He has allowed our forces to go out there poorly equipped. He has allowed things to break down. He has allowed our defence forces to be under-trained. He and the Prime Minister Helen Clark are “peaceniks”—we know that—and they do not want New Zealand to have the reputation of being there not just in peacekeeping roles but also in peace enforcement. 
Unfortunately this Minister and this Prime Minister will allow that to continue. The only reason that our current forces—the people from New Zealand who are serving overseas—are as good as they are is because of their own individual tenacity. They are incredible people but this Government does absolutely nothing to help them at all. This Government’s reputation and our country’s reputation is the lowest it has ever been and it is an absolute disgrace. Let me tell the House that this Minister and the Chief of Defence report that we are having problems with recruitment and retention. Why is that? Who would want to join an air force for example only to hop on a plane and it breaks down? What an embarrassment when they are delivering things to help people. What about if people want to go out there to try to help but they do not have the proper equipment? This stuff is a disgrace and this Minister knows it. He has some loopy schemes that are not actually helping us at all. He then wonders why we cannot recruit or retain people. The Minister needs to look at his own policies and at the fact that this is not about just peacekeeping. This is about peace enforcement and this country should be continuing its proud history of being involved. 
When National becomes the Government after the next election New Zealand will be seen to do its bit again. We will be seen to do our part. National will ensure that we rebuild our commitment to international security. New Zealand will be seen as a country that plays its part when called upon. We will make sure that the people who are the finest New Zealanders have the proper equipment to do the things that their predecessors have done in the past. We will be proud of our defence forces once again like we have been historically and we sure as hell will not let this lot continue the rundown of our defence forces with the disgraceful attitude that they have. National will start the rebuilding and make the commitment to international security that we would expect this country to contribute.