Cunliffe David: General Debates 
Cunliffe David: General Debates 
[Volume:611;Page:8133] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of State) 
: 
 Here is a news flash for Ken Shirley: State-owned enterprises are under the State-Owned Enterprises Act run by boards. The boards have an independent right to run their companies and they have a fiduciary duty to do so in the interests of those companies. That member was around in the last Labour Government and he did not make the cut—that is why he is not a member of the Labour Party now—and that member knows what the State-Owned Enterprises Act is about. He is making a very long draw of the bow to put it kindly. 
Let us remember a couple of things about the Kyoto Protocol because there has been a bit of talk about it in the general debate today. The first thing is that on all the mid-range projections of the carbon price New Zealand will be a net winner. The value of the credits is bigger than the cost of the taxes—from memory by about $200 million. Even for a National spokesperson on finance that ought to be real money. It is certainly real money when compared with the $300 a farmer on average that the emissions levy will cost to build good research for our agricultural sector. That is not worth the cost of the tractor ride to the meeting or the $10 it costs to pay the National Party’s emissions levy to get in the door. 
 But that is not the main point of today’s speech. That is a sideshow and that is the problem with the National Party. It is always chasing sideshows. I am starting to feel sorry for Bill English. The problem is that he— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Self-inflicted last night; don’t feel sorry for him. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: He is allowed a night off; he is a decent bloke and he works reasonably hard. The problem is not that Bill English will fail to be a good leader of the National Party or a good future National Prime Minister. The problem is that he cannot be for three simple reasons. Firstly he has no spark secondly he has no strategy and thirdly he has no coalition. Let me take those points in order. 
Bill English has no spark and that is obvious every day in question time when Winston Peters stands up and eclipses him like a solar eclipse. The shutters go down a big shadow goes over Bill English and nobody cares. Winston Peters may talk rubbish most of the time but he does have the knack of doing it with some aplomb. He does have the gift of the gab. It is only when we actually listen to Winston Peters occasionally that we realise that what he says is complete hogwash. However until then—and it is a sad but true fact that some 15 or 17 percent of the public have difficulty with the difference—Bill English is no place. 
Was Bill English in the first general debate after National’s 2-day caucus? No he was not. Has the public heard a good speech from Bill English this year? No it has not. Who did the National Party front up with today? David Carter! Where is the great white hope of the National Party? There he is sitting right in front of us—Mr Power. What have we heard from him? We have heard nothing from him and do members know why that is? It is because he has the decency not to make Bill English’s problem worse. 
Bill English has no spark and no strategy. As my colleague said he is getting corralled into places where he does not want to be. Bill English is not a racist; he is a decent Southlander. He does not want to go on a campaign against Maori. Do members know why that is? He has the brains to know that within a decade 1 in 3 voters will be Maori or Pacific Islander. OK there is some stress around the foreshore issue in different parts of the country but how many Maori will vote National? Very very few of them will do that and do members know why? It is because Bill English is caught between a rock and hard place and he is flip-flopping to prove it. He said there should be Government ownership of the foreshore and Maori should go elsewhere. Winston Peters said the same thing. Where are Maori going? A couple of them will go to the Greens but most of them will stick with Labour because they know that Labour is holding the sensible middle ground on this issue. We will not overwrite customary rights but we stop short of saying that they add up to exclusive title because they have never done so in the whole history of New Zealand Aotearoa. Even before the Treaty of Waitangi there was never exclusive title. 
Bill English has no spark or strategy. He is caught by Don Brash who is dragging National to the right and he looks like he has no place to go. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.