Mallard Trevor: General Debate 
Mallard Trevor: General Debate 
[Volume:675;Page:14396] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. There is a wealth of opportunities for this debate today and I will take a few of them. We will talk about National’s bail policy and the fact that National members cuddle up to people who are charged with arms offences. We will talk about wages and about the promise John Key made at the Kerikeri District Business Association to drop wages. We will talk about John Key’s hidden donation to the National Party through the Waitemata Trust and some of the details around that. We will talk about Richard Worth. He is someone who is transparent unlike John Key in that when he wanted one of his mates to be a consul-general for New Zealand he admitted that he had a substantial self-interest in the request. And if there is time we will get on to the Brownlee diaries which are very very interesting. 
First of all I ask John Key the same question I asked him last week. It is a question that I will ask him every time I have the opportunity. Why did he not have the courage to turn his back on Tame Iti when Tame Iti approached him? We expect someone of principle someone who aspires to be the Prime Minister to say “I will not cuddle up to someone who is charged with serious firearm offences.” We expect someone like him to have the courage to front up in these matters or in this case to not front up—to turn his back to walk away and to say it is not appropriate to meet with someone like that to hongi to give endorsement and to give approval. Every single week that we have the opportunity to do so we will ask that question until John Key gets off his backside gets into this House and answers that question. 
Hon Bill English 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member knows that he cannot refer to an absence from the House. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: He certainly did not say that. He said until he gets off his backside and comes into the House. It was a reference to the future. Most of us do go out of this place at least at 10 o’clock at night and come back again later. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Thank you Dr Cullen. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Why did John Key propose to the Kerikeri District Business Association that he would drop wages then say later on that he wanted them to go up? I am not saying that he is a liar—I cannot and I will not—but when was he telling the truth? What does he believe? Was neither time the truth or was it just another case of John Key saying one thing to one group of people and another thing to another group? The truth does not matter to John Key; he just tells people what they want to hear.  
My next question to Mr Key is when he will tell this House how much he gave as part of his hidden donation—hidden in order to avoid the declaration—to the National Party. Was it six figures as we understand; and was it more than what Owen Glenn gave to the Labour Party? We know that John Key did it through the Waitemata Trust and we know that Murray McCully’s mate Bob Browne arranged for that donation to be hidden. Bob Browne distinguished himself while chair of Transit by having the only motorway extension that happened in Auckland go to his own front door! We are talking about someone who is used to doing dodgy deals and the fact that he is a business partner of Murray McCully is probably an indication of that. We want to know how much John Key’s donation was that Bob Browne hid. 
I again compliment Richard Worth and indicate that at the end of this speech I will seek the leave of the House to table the letter from Mr Worth— 
Hon Member 
: Dr Worth. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: No Mr Worth at the time—before he bought his PhD. 
I seek the leave of the House to table a letter from Richard Worth OBE MP for Epsom which states: “There is an aspect of substantial”— 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.