Dunne Peter: General Debates 
Dunne Peter: General Debates 
[Volume:615;Page:11100] 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
: 
 There was something that the deputy leader of the National Party said in his speech that I agreed with and that was his comment that Dr Brash’s Orewa speech had occasioned an important debate. But beyond that I have to say there was very little in that speech that I found favour with. I think that the way in which the important debate is being handled brings no credit upon anyone. It is as unacceptable to dismiss Dr Brash’s comments as “Hansonite” as it is to portray this debate in the increasingly divisive bitter and extreme terms that are being used. 
What is fundamental to the issue beyond the rednecks and the racists who have contributed to some of the public reaction is that middle New Zealand feels very strongly a sense of anxiety about a number of issues of which this one has become the focal point. The way ahead in terms of addressing it is neither to dismiss it as just a few depraved ravings nor to pretend that somehow this country is on the point of tearing itself apart because both are equally extreme and unacceptable reactions. 
I think all of us have to take stock and listen to what the message is and attempt to reflect that in the policy positions we espouse in this House. What I believe New Zealanders are saying at the moment is that they do not want to compromise their historical sense of a fair go for the next bloke—or person. They do not want to see a country that is unnecessarily divided against one another but they do want to see injustice inequality and unfairness addressed where possible and at the same time they also want to be able to get on with living their lives the way they always have done. 
If one looks back over the span of the last 40 50 or 60 years in New Zealand history that has been a constant thread. I think the fear people have at the moment which is giving rise to the current debate and the reactions it is drawing is that in a world of great change—going back to the economic and social changes of the 1980s and beyond—some of the things we held as constants are now coming under challenge and scrutiny. What we need to do as members of Parliament of whatever political persuasion is seek to address those concerns as we move forward as a nation. We cannot recreate yesterday. We cannot say: “Let’s put the world back the way it used to be.” Time has properly moved on. But we can talk about a vision and a direction and we can start to discuss the things that we need to do to take people to that point. 
One of the issues I believe is core to this whole debate is that New Zealanders really do not have a clear sense any more of their own identity. Partly that is because of increasing global changes but partly it is also because of changes within this country that have never really been talked through. I would like to give the House a couple of examples. I think that over the last few years we have been engaged in a process of constitutional change by stealth. I am not arguing the rightness or wrongness of any of the particular positions that have been advanced but I am saying that what is happening is that changes are occurring in a way where people appear ambushed uncertain and unclear what is next. I think the culmination of those things has given rise to the climate we face at the moment. 
Firstly we do need to have a thorough and properly organised constitutional review. Secondly we start to need to conduct the debate that Dr Brash’s speech—inadvertently I suspect—triggered in a way that is far more mature and responsible than has been the case to date. I do not think any New Zealander is against dealing with disadvantage wherever it occurs and whenever it occurs but let us get the balance right.