Carter John: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Carter John: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:637;Page:7396] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 Every time that I come down to this House now and listen to the debates that are going on and to the contributions from the Labour members of Parliament it saddens me because I reflect back to the Labour Governments of the past and I think of the men of honour they used to be. 
Hon Member 
: Good debaters. 
JOHN CARTER 
: They were good debaters but they had standards. They used to set standards they used to be people of honour and dignity and they used to represent this country to a level where people looked up to them and even revered some of them. Sadly and unfortunately those days are well gone. 
Hon Member 
: Come off it! 
JOHN CARTER 
: Yes it used to be like that. Younger members here may not remember but it is true. Sadly and unfortunately what we now see in this House is a very shallow shadow of those past Governments. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: Shallow men. 
JOHN CARTER 
: It is sad. Young people like Darren Hughes and so on just would not remember those days. Even for people like Lianne Dalziel and David Benson-Pope it is a dim memory. I think of the recent event around Taito Phillip Field and I think to myself that it did not matter that the Government used his vote while he employed someone from Thailand to tile his house. Those members thought that that was OK and that it did not matter. It did not matter that Taito Phillip Field underpaid that guy from Thailand—short-paid him—while Labour used his vote. They thought that was all right. They thought that it did not matter that Taito Phillip Field misled the Ingram inquiry. Helen Clark continued to use his vote; those members thought that that was all right and that it did not matter. 
 The fault he showed was not that he was dishonest not that he misled not that he underpaid not that he misused and not that Helen Clark allowed all that to happen. That was OK apparently. The sin was— 
Chris Auchinvole 
: What did he do wrong? 
JOHN CARTER 
: He threatened Helen Clark that he was going to stand again. That was a criminal offence. That was below the dignity of that party. That lowered the standard. Well how disgraceful! All those other things are OK! A member can be a criminal can offend against the State can misuse somebody can use somebody who is impoverished to better himself or herself and can misuse a ministerial warrant—all those things do not matter—but God forbid that that member threaten the Prime Minister! 
The fact is that once upon a time the leaders of that party used to have some standards. Now they have none. We heard yesterday about this whole issue of sustainability in the speech that she gave. The only thing that matters to her is the sustainability of her leadership and the continuation by Helen Clark of the prime ministership of this country. She does not care one toss any more about the fact that there is absolute social dysfunction in this country. She does not care about the fact that in this country there are no consequences any more. She does not care about the fact that people in this country know their rights but do not know their responsibilities. That does not matter to her. All she cares about is that she continues to be our Prime Minister. 
You know history will look at this woman and say that she was never a leader of this country. Helen Clark is a very cunning clever manipulative schemer of political issues. 
Hon Member 
: Why do you say that? 
JOHN CARTER 
: Because she has been able to be clever enough to keep ahead of the game. But finally it is starting to fall off. The wheels are turning against her. Taito Phillip Field is but one. The Graeme Burton affair was an absolute disgrace. That comes straight back on to her prime ministership. And just this last week we saw Michael Cullen and the mortgage levies debacle. What happened? All of a sudden it has all started to run amok. That is what happens when we get prime ministers who are clever and cunning but who are never leaders. Finally the wheels fall off. That is what is starting to happen in this country. 
I want to address one issue that is really important to this nation which is the issue of leaky buildings. It is a major major problem in this country and Clayton Cosgrove has never done anything to try to address the issue. Every time he is asked he does not have an answer. He has done nothing at all yet we have now in this country—members should listen to this figure—over 250000 homes which equals a city the size of Wellington that do not have compliance certificates. There are 250000 homes in which people are living in this country that are not properly registered to live in yet. Who allowed that? That Government is allowing that to happen. 
What is even worse is that because of the inactivity of Clayton Cosgrove we are still seeing these leaky homes being built. There is a simple answer. The Government just needs the balls to do it but it has not and it will not. Even one of the past presidents of the Labour Party Bob Harvey came out the other day and said that the Government should front up. That came from Bob Harvey. He is saying that the whole thing is a fiasco. He is saying that it is a disgrace. He is the guy who stood out there and defended the Government but he has stopped. He has finally given up on this Government. 
This Government says it is doing a lot for this country. I just want to remind members that it promised a rates inquiry and now it is saying “Wow! We’re having one.” Actually what a lot of hooey that is! I have just read what the chairman of the panel David Shand has said about the rates inquiry. The whole thrust of the inquiry is focusing on funding. Well that was not what this Parliament asked for. That was not what we were told when Mark Burton said we would have an inquiry. But this guy David Shand has said three things that I think are important— 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Who? 
JOHN CARTER 
: David Shand the chairman of the panel for the rates inquiry. 
Christopher Finlayson 
: A former Labour candidate for Wellington Central. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Really! Well that says something in itself—no standards there either. But we actually knew that. 
 What he said is: “The background document we have released lays out what we”—being the panel—“think …”. I thought the inquiry was about what New Zealanders thought for God’s sake. But no. Mr Shand is saying that it is what the members of the panel think. He goes on to say that the panel will say what the most important issues are. I thought an inquiry was about finding out from New Zealanders what they thought were the most important issues. Then he says: “… and [it] includes a list of questions we would like people to consider …”. What about asking them about the things they might like to consider? I would have thought that is what the hell an inquiry is about. Then he goes on to say: “Fundamentally we are looking at the wider issue of funding of local government not just rates.” Well whoop-de-doo. But when I went on to read it it did not say anything about anything else so I do not know what he might otherwise be talking about. 
Finally I want to bring members to the issue of “Rick the Dick”—the Minister of Civil Defence Rick Barker. He is in charge of civil defence. What an absolute shambles. I want to tell a little story. It is an absolute shambles. Rick said: “It’s all going to be all right. Don’t worry. Before we can tell you the tsunami will have got you so don’t worry about it. It will all be OK.” Members will not believe this but just yesterday I was told this story which is a true story. Civil Defence headquarters decided it was going to have a civil defence exercise in the Wairarapa. It got all the team together. They shut down the headquarters in Wellington and they all shot off over to the bunker in the Wairarapa to hold an exercise. Wait for this. They all got over there and they could not run the exercise. Do members know why? It was because someone had forgotten to take the key to the bunker in the Wairarapa and they had to drive all the way back over to Wellington to get the key. They had to delay the exercise for 6 hours. Someone needs to tell Civil Defence and Rick Barker that in that time a lot of people would have died in a tsunami. If it had been a volcano there would be a bloody big bang by the time they got the key after 6 hours. If it had been an earthquake it would rattle a hell of a lot while someone fishes around in his or her pocket for the key. These guys cannot even organise a civil defence trial over the bloody hill. For God’s sake! The guy in charge said: “The warning system is a bit clunky.” The civil defence system is a bit clunky and I have to say so is the Minister.