Carter John: Standing Orders—Suspension 
Carter John: Standing Orders—Suspension 
[Volume:641;Page:10949] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 The first thing that the House needs to take note of is what this Parliament is doing right now. I listened with interest to the very short comment from the Green member who said that the Greens are supporting the motion but did not give a reason. I listened then to the contribution from the Maori Party and the well-reasoned thoughts of why those members would support this motion. I have no argument with the comments that member made. But we need to take a step back and consider what this Parliament is doing. 
Tonight we are suspending the Standing Orders to correct a mistake that has been made by the Government and that is a rare event. When somebody seeks leave to undertake some step such as to make a personal explanation we suspend the Standing Orders and that is accepted as a right that we have as members. If we have made a mistake we can correct it personally and individually. Parliament gives leave to suspend the Standing Orders to allow the member to correct that mistake. There are occasions when a private bill a member’s bill or a local bill comes up and for some reason because it deals with a local issue Parliament might well consider suspending the Standing Orders. But for Parliament to suspend the Standing Orders because the Government has made an error of judgment is something that is a significant constitutional issue. 
We need to understand what we are doing here tonight. The last time that I can recall that we suspended the Standing Orders—and there may be others who have a better memory than me—was when I was the senior Government whip in I think about 1995. I allowed a vote to be taken— 
Hon Dover Samuels 
: We supported it. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Well no Labour did not actually. I allowed the vote to be taken and the vote could well have overturned the Government. I must confess that I was very embarrassed. The Prime Minister of the day Mr Bolger was to put it succinctly rather unhappy. At that stage we had to have—I cannot remember now; I think it was—75 percent of the House represented to vote to overturn the decision that had been taken. The Standing Orders now say that we need to have half of the Parliament or 60 which is less than half in support of a motion to overturn the Standing Orders. 
I want the House to understand—and I want the member from New Zealand First to understand as I do not think he has even considered this—the constitutional issue we are dealing with here tonight. I am not sure that I have heard any comment about this and certainly not from the Greens. That surprises me because the member who spoke is one who does take this place very seriously and for whom I have a great deal of respect. Certainly the member from the Maori Party who spoke and gave good reasons for that party’s support of the motion did not talk about constitutional issues. 
This Parliament needs to be worried about the fact that we are here tonight correcting something that we have to actually suspend the Standing Orders to do because the Government has made a mistake. 
Bob Clarkson 
: It’s damn naughty. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Well it is worse than damn naughty; it is actually constitutionally seriously important. Members of this Parliament and the public of this nation need to understand that tonight we are making a law change outside of our ability to do so only because we give ourselves the power and we do that by suspending our Standing Orders—which have stood us in good stead for years and years—so that the Government can have its way. [ 
Interruption 
] Well it brings to notice the fact that—and this is the point I want to make—this Government here again is doing things that one would not expect a good Government to do— 
Bob Clarkson 
: Under normal circumstances. 
JOHN CARTER 
: —under normal circumstances. I stress to those parties that have said they will support this step that suspending the Standing Orders is not something we do just to help a Government out; it is something we do because there is a crisis. It is something we do because the country is in difficulty because we are threatened or because the country may well not be able to operate unless Parliament takes this decision. But we are not passing this motion tonight for any of those reasons; we are doing it because the Government of the day has made yet another mistake. 
Quite honestly the debate we are having now is a far more serious one than this Government gives it credit for and I want to stress that. It is seriously important. This is about our constitution. This is about our nation. This is actually about the fact that we are going to change a law and override everything we are formed on because the Government decided it wants to fix something that it mucked up in the first place. That is the first and most serious point. 
I want to make my second point. Let us have a look at what the Government is trying to correct: the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill. Last night I spoke on another bill that Minister Cosgrove had brought in the Building Amendment Bill. In fact this bill is to become part of the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill—this is one thing we are suspending the Standing Orders to do. I want to say to the Minister what I said last night because tonight he is present. I say to him that he should be absolutely ashamed that we are debating this matter at all. I say to Minister Cosgrove that it is an absolute disgrace that we are here debating this issue. You have been told on many occasions— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
JOHN CARTER 
: I beg your pardon Mr Assistant Speaker. The Minister has been told on many occasions—and I have been one of those who have told him this—that local government would not be able to meet the deadline the Minister imposed on it. He has been told that by local government by the building industry and by the institute of building officers. This Minister has been advised by anybody and everybody that it would not be possible for local authorities to meet the date that he and his Department of Building and Housing set. But what did he do? He blindly went on irrespective of advice. He did not care; he did not worry. He did not worry about the cost the stress and the problems that he put on local government and the building industry. This Minister who has failed them in every other way has failed yet again. 
It is an absolute disgrace that we are here tonight on this matter. This Minister has been hopeless and useless. Quite honestly I stand by that statement entirely. This Minister is a complete failure. He talks about the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services. He needs to understand that more leaky homes are being built in this country right now than ever. His Department of Building and Housing quite honestly is failing him completely. This Minister is failing his Government. This Government is failing this country and we are here tonight debating a constitutional resolution because this Government has failed the people of this nation. 
I want the nation the people who are listening and this Parliament to understand that we are debating this tonight because this Minister and his department have completely let down the building industry and the people of this country. They will be brought to account in time. This whole issue will become known. It is already well known. Parliament should think about this and the parties that are looking to support this resolution should think about what they are doing. It is not just an issue about passing a motion; it is actually an issue about us changing our whole constitution because we are changing the Standing Orders. That is something that we should not do lightly; we should not do it unless there is an absolute crisis. This is not a crisis. Thank you.