Carter John: General Debate 
Carter John: General Debate 
[Volume:643;Page:13303] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 It is normal for a person who takes the call to acknowledge the previous speaker but I have to say that the only compliment I can make on that speech is to ignore it. Quite honestly it was just a load of drivel. 
This debate was started by Pete Hodgson. He complimented John Key on becoming the leader of the National Party 12 months ago. He was followed by Chris Carter who said Mr Key was the Prime Minister! Well if Chris Carter hangs around for another 12 months he will be absolutely right—not that he is likely to stay in this House but he certainly will be able to go around and say that John Key is the Prime Minister of this country. 
I want us to reflect on what has happened in the last 9 years and before. This country was a proud country. We were proud in many ways of our successes in many areas. One of the areas we were extremely proud of and successful in was sport. We were proud of our sports achievements. But I want to draw the attention of the House to what has happened this year. What happened to the America’s Cup? Fail. What happened to the rugby? Fail. What happened to the netball? Fail. What happened to the cricket? Fail. We did get one achievement. I understand that we got a record or something for texting. The point is that the only person in this country who will be happy— 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Whose fault was it? 
JOHN CARTER 
: Well the only people who will be happy about the fact we have dumbed down this country so much that instead of achieving we all have to be equal will be Helen Clark and the Labour members. We have finally reached the point where she wanted us to be—dumbed down so that the Government is in control. That is reflected no more so than in the sporting arena. 
Earlier we heard Lockwood Smith Tim Groser and Lindsay Tisch talk about some of the things that have happened in this country such as dumbing down and people leaving for Australia. I want to give this House one statistic today. I know that Doug Woolerton will be interested in this. In Northland this year—and this is not from me; the leaders of the Government departments will tell us this statistic—57 percent of young Maori males will leave school without being able to read and write properly. This Government says that that is OK. Actually it is not OK. The impact on a place like Northland and on New Zealand is absolutely horrendous. Those kids have no option but to turn to crime and drugs. They will be part of the drug scene up there and this Government thinks that is OK. That is not acceptable and it is one of the reasons why so many people are leaving this country. 
On top of the Government dumbing down this country it is now so unsure as to what will happen it has brought in a thing called the Electoral Finance Bill which directs people on how to vote. Let me just read out an email I got today because I think it reflects the issue around what will happen with the Electoral Finance Bill. The email is from someone running a campaign called NoMoreRates.com. Most members will have heard about it. The leader of the NoMoreRates.com campaign is concerned about the fact that this country has been over-rated and there is a rates revolt. The Government’s response was that it will have a rates inquiry and it did. It came out with a whole lot of recommendations some good some not so good some useful and some that will not be implemented. The issue is that the Government has now said it will respond sometime next year probably during the Budget. 
The impact then of the Electoral Finance Bill will be that the NoMoreRates.com group will not be able to comment if they do not like what the Government implements. They will not be able to go out and say: “We don’t think that what the Government is doing with regard to rates on this particular issue is satisfactory.” 
Gerry Brownlee 
: They’d be electioneering. 
JOHN CARTER 
: They would be electioneering. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: They’ll be electioneering. They’ll be shut down. 
JOHN CARTER 
: They will be shut down; they will not be able to comment. The only thing they could do of course is register but why should they have to register when they are talking about something to do with local government? This fellow over here Doug Woolerton wants to gag those people and he has joined with the Labour socialists so that they cannot say anything. 
I wonder about the Sensible Sentencing Trust. What does Doug Woolerton think about their not being able to make any comment next year? They are a group of genuine people who are worried about the crime level in this country and the issues around crime. What does Doug Woolerton do? What do the Labour socialists and New Zealand First do? They want to shut them down.