Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
[Volume:633;Page:4983] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 Today is the day Helen Clark lost control of the Labour Party and the Labour caucus. Today is the day she got rolled over by those in that caucus who are sick of her dictatorial ways. Today is the day she decided even though the public of this country know she has a member in her caucus who should not be in this House that she has to tough it out if she wants to hold on. Last night Mr Field was going—gone for all money. In this morning’s paper the Pacific Island division of the Labour Party were backing him on the one hand as an individual but on the other hand saying he had to go because his behaviour was unacceptable. 
What happened in the few hours between the printing of this morning’s paper and the time we came into the House this afternoon? Well I think that the chairman of the group of Labour MPs known to be on the managed exit list met with Mr Field and said: “Let’s tough it out—let’s draw a line in the sand and let’s force this Prime Minister to accept that she cannot dictatorially remove any one of us from Parliament.” So Mr Fairbrother calling on all of his legal skills advised Mr Field that although it was patently clear that Mr Field had been up to no good and that the whole country believed he was not fit to be in Parliament he should defy the Prime Minister and force her to back him. That is what we saw today—the humiliation of Helen Clark and the end of her formidable ability to ride over the top of issues. That is the end of the Labour Government; that is the chink in the armour that will see it all unpeel and go out the back door. I cannot believe that Labour members are going to go back into the electorates around the public speaking circuit and look New Zealanders in the eye and say that Mr Field is not a problem that Mr Field has done nothing wrong and that Mr Field has every right to be in Parliament. 
I have one question for the Government: how many other members in this House have had the Parliamentary Service turn up at their office and stick up signs telling constituents that they do not need to pay for services? Come on let us have a hands up. Let members put their hands up. Let us see who else in this Parliament has had the Parliamentary Service come in and post posters around the office that state that constituents do not need to pay for services. The question is why that happened in Mr Field’s case. What was it as far back as 2003 that forced the Parliamentary Service to take that most unusual step? What the Parliamentary Service Helen Clark and all of the Labour members know is that Mr Field has had his hand out and has been lining his pocket at the expense of his constituents for a very long time. For Helen Clark to stand up today and say that he has done nothing wrong is a total disgrace—but it is nothing we should not expect of her given her long record of disrespect for the law of this country. 
We have seen Mr Field put out this extraordinary press release. He has sat down with the spin merchants from the ninth floor and decided he will just deny everything. Today in the House my colleague Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith managed to get David Cunliffe the Minister of Immigration to accept that Mr Field sought a Samoan work permit for Sunan Siriwan in February 2005 but that he told the Ingram inquiry he knew nothing of this until some time later in May 2005. We see today in this junky little press release the delusion that Mr Field is still operating under. This man should not be in Parliament. He will break the Labour Party. He has broken Helen Clark.