Cunliffe David: Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Cunliffe David: Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:638;Page:8876] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 There are some unusual and extraordinary days in politics and this is surely one of them. It is so extraordinary that as I stand here in the Chamber—and it is the first time I have spoken on this bill—I am expecting to see a horde of pigs fly across the top of the Chamber from one side to the other or to see a spaceship come down through the top land on the floor and take Mr Hide back to where he came from. Anything could happen on a day like today. 
We have seen some extraordinary events. We have seen the Prime Minister craft a ground-breaking deal to get this bill through and we have seen the Leader of the Opposition roll over and then stand up on a podium and take the credit for it. We have seen the perhaps not unsurprising spectacle of Television One and TV3 not being able to tell the difference of not actually working out what remarkable events have gone on in the last 72 hours. What has happened here as Rodney Hide has said is essentially the National Party has come to its senses. It has realised that playing politics with this bill has gone on for long enough and that it is time to do the right thing in the long run for the children of New Zealand. I commend National for that. It is undoubtedly the right thing to do. 
One of the less surprising things was to have Mr Hide come into the House as the people’s hero and say: “Look everybody else is playing politics with this bill except me.” Butter would not melt in his mouth. He is the only MP in this House who is clearly against politics. He is probably one of the very few people in New Zealand who does not like to see MMP working in action and to see the odd bit of compromise in this Parliament. After months of debate and korero and raruraru people can find where the middle ground of public and political opinion is and say: “Hey this isn’t perfect but this is about as close as we’re going to get.” 
I want to recognise three people here. I recognise Sue Bradford for the extraordinary personal courage she has shown and the personal threat she has endured. She has not flinched. She has not retaliated. She has not become bitter. That is the mark of a person in politics. Sue you have our admiration. You have done a good thing for the children of New Zealand. 
I am sometimes reminded that we have a Prime Minister who is of worldwide calibre. We have a Prime Minister who in the midst of all of this flak and fury has seen a way through. She spent a weekend going back to first principles and crafting a compromise with her own hand and it has got this bill through with an overwhelming majority. If anybody else buys that that is what John Key spent his weekend doing then I say to Television One and TV3 that I am sorry but they have got the wrong person. John Key is a marketing-driven politician. He understands the moods of public opinion. He takes public relations advice and there is not a focus group that he has met that he does not like. The difference between that and Helen Clark is she knew where she wanted to get to from the day this game started and we have got there. That will always be the difference between those two politicians. I cannot say “those two leaders” because indeed in the truest sense of the word only one of them is a leader. 
I want to recognise my westie friend and colleague Lynne Pillay who chaired the Justice and Electoral Committee. I acknowledge Rodney Hide’s comments that the committee did a lot of hard work. I acknowledge Chester Borrows for the well-meaning and good-hearted spirit that he brought to the discussion. I may not agree with him but I know that he meant the right thing for our kids too. I think right around this Chamber we share the objective of crafting what is best for the children of New Zealand even though we see it in different ways and we have thrashed out a compromise. 
Another extraordinary thing about today has been to see Christianity’s many many tents unfurled on the forecourt of Parliament—the many rooms of the mansion if you like on display. We had a large number of people from the fundamentalist branch of that great world religion on the front lawn chomping at the bit for the right to not spare the rod. I respect that that is their viewpoint. But the contrast between that and the other lot which I confess I was part of—and it was quiet it was prayerful it was peaceful and it was thoughtful—was very very stark. It is not that one was right and the other was wrong. We are all entitled to our opinions. But culturally politically and theologically they could not have been more different. 
Out of that let us celebrate the fact that we live in a country where religious differences as well as political differences can be aired in peace and where we can come together as a people around what we think the balance points are and we can move forward as a nation. If we ever lose that ability then we truly are fried like so many other parts of the world appear to be at the moment. I celebrate the fact that those various strands of faith stood up and were counted. I am particularly pleased that the so-called mainstream Churches in particular the Catholics Anglicans and Presbyterians came off the fence. They said: “Look we may not have a monopoly on truth but here’s what we take it to mean. Here’s where we think the Bible is leading us.” I say kia ora to that for the honesty and the courage of that process and I say thank you to the organisers. 
This is the only time I have spoken in this debate and I conclude by doing something very rare. I do not like ever to bring politicians’ personal lives into debate and I certainly have never done it to anybody else but I want to say something personal on my own behalf as my colleague Shane Jones has done. I am a relatively new dad. I have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old. I have used corporal punishment in the past. I grew up in a family where within moderation that was the norm. I want to acknowledge my wife who has staunchly held the view that that is not an appropriate form of parenting. I have learnt not to use corporal punishment. I have learnt that if I have to smack one of my two darling sons that says a lot more about me and my lack of parenting skills than it says about them. Any kid can drive us up the wall. Anyone who has kids knows that right? We get tired and they get tired and they have the odd bit of chocolate after tea and they can work themselves up into a bit of a lather. But smacking does not help. That is what I have learnt out of all of this debate. 
Throughout this debate as a country we have come on a journey and I have come on a bit of a journey as a dad too. If anybody says that I am voting the way I am on this bill because my whips told me to then I say that as much as I respect my whips I am voting with my conscience. I am also voting with my life experience here. [ 
Interruption 
] Yes—I am also voting with my wife’s instructions. I would not want to go home if I changed my vote. Some members know my wife and they know that would be a very bad idea. I am surrounded by strong women; it is fantastic. I know that this is the right thing to do. I know that my children will learn better if I sit down and explain to them what is right and wrong—not if I belt them to try to get the point across. My kids have the same spunk and spine as my wife has. I do not bow down to that kind of pressure. But they also have brains and they know how to listen to an argument even at 5—actually even at 2. I am proud of my little family and I am proud of the way that they are growing up. 
I think that if this bill is adopted as a baseline for all the families of New Zealand then this country will be a better and a brighter place. Kia ora tatou to the whole whanau to the whole Whare to the whole Parliament for coming to this point today. Kia ora to Sue and kia ora to the people of New Zealand who have come on a journey together over these last few months. I think today they are starting to come together again as a people and that gives us all hope.