Hide Rodney: Appropriation (2004/05 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Hide Rodney: Appropriation (2004/05 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:619;Page:14956] 
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 Let us strip away the rhetoric of this Government and say that yes we do live in a great country and that we as New Zealanders are a great people. That is why we have to get rid of this Labour Government and the Prime Minister Helen Clark. That is why we need Don Brash to become the Prime Minister and the ACT party to be in Government. Parekura Horomia pipes up. My message to him from his electorate is that he has gone. I will talk about what New Zealanders are actually concerned about. We know that because we had the Norm Withers referendum. I tell Mr Horomia that New Zealanders want to feel safe at home safe in the streets and safe at their place of work. We had a referendum that had overwhelming support from New Zealanders for the Government to get tough on crime and to protect New Zealanders. What do we hear from this Government? We learn that under this Government Andrew Ronald MacMillan a terrible brutal rapist and murderer will get a $1200 payout because of his hurt feelings. Parekura Horomia and Jill Pettis would not agree with that. No New Zealander would agree with that. 
Keith Locke 
: I agree with it. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Keith Locke does but then I question whether he is a New Zealander. No New Zealander would agree with that. We heard from this Government that it may get the Department of Corrections to see whether it can appeal that decision. What a weak response that was from the Government to the people of New Zealand who are fed up to their back teeth with crime and lawlessness and disorder in this country. It is all right for Ministers to have diplomatic protections and for Parekura Horomia to sweep around in his flash car but what about his constituents? What about the people in south Auckland who cannot say that their children are safe on their way to school? What has this Government done about that? 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: What about your constituents? 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Parekura Horomia spikes up a bit now. He should do some door-knocking in his electorate because he is gone. 
While I am talking about Parekura Horomia do members remember Helen Clark’s promise to close the gaps? Everyone was going to come together. Maori and Pakeha were going to sit around the table and live happily ever after. 
Moana Mackey 
: What happened to Maori unemployment? 
RODNEY HIDE 
: That is a good question. What did happen to that policy of closing the gaps? I would like to hear that from the Labour Government. Labour will not let Parekura Horomia rise to his feet to speak. It has sat him down because he is too tired to stand. It will not let him stand up to give a speech so he lies back in his chair and yells out. Has Parekura Horomia got eyes and ears? Can he not hear and see what is happening in Maoridom? What did the Labour Party do? For once it has united Maori. It has united Maori against Labour—against the Government of New Zealand—and for the first time in our history we have a race-based party in our Parliament thanks to Helen Clark. She has not brought the races together but has split them wide apart. 
In relation to America and Australia we are distant friends. Our Prime Minister runs around toadying up to the “axis of evil” Iran and helping it to organise itself to get its A-bomb up and running. 
Hon Annette King 
: Don’t talk rubbish! 
RODNEY HIDE 
: I saw it in the paper. All around the world we saw pictures of Phil Goff holding hands with Keith Locke’s friend Yasser Arafat. 
Hon Annette King 
: Who does Mr Hide hold hands with? 
RODNEY HIDE 
: I can tell the Minister of Health that if I got as close as that to Yasser Arafat I would not be holding his hand. That is what has been happening. If I got as close as that to Yasser Arafat he would be in serious trouble. 
Hon Annette King 
: But you would hold the hand of his wife? 
RODNEY HIDE 
: I can tell the Minister that I would not hold his hand or that of his wife. Our Government is taking New Zealand on a path away from our traditional allies is cuddling up to the likes of Iran and Yasser Arafat and is to send a letter of apology together with a cheque for $1200 to a murderer and rapist. 
I ask Annette King where we are on transport. We are committed to building roads in Auckland but under the Land Transport Management Act we have to consult iwi on just about each and every road. Parekura Horomia and his tribal mates can turn up to any hearing and hold it to ransom. Why is that? One reason is that there could be a taniwha in Kohimarama. [ 
Interruption 
] I can see that there is a taniwha in Parekura Horomia’s seat. He should get up to make a speech like a man and not just sit there and heckle away. 
Then we come to the economy. I remember a time when the Labour Party used to want people to lift their sights and to achieve to create and to produce. This is what happens under Michael Cullen’s Budget. [ 
Interruption 
] If Annette King pipes down for 2 seconds she may learn what is in the Budget that she is about to vote for. In fact if she listens to and understands this she may shift her vote. Let us take the example of a family with two children in Auckland that earns $35000 a year. That family is doing it hard in Auckland. 
Hon Annette King 
: And what would ACT do for it? 
RODNEY HIDE 
: I will tell her what Labour has done for it. That family has a housing cost of $300 a week and gets $788 in its hand to live on. Annette King should imagine this situation. The family has to work harder so the wife has to go to work. It then earns an extra $20000 a year but that is hard. Does Annette King know how much that family gets to keep under this Budget? She does not know so I will ask Parekura Horomia. If that family on $35000 a year earns an extra $20000 how much does it get to keep? Parekura Horomia cannot do the sums. Well I can tell him it is $2548 a year. The family earns an extra $400 a week by working harder and gets to keep only $50 of that. That is what Annette King Parekura Horomia and Michael Cullen are voting for. 
Hon Annette King 
: What’s ACT going to do? 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Help is on the way—that is what I say to Parekura Horomia and Annette King. Help is on the way because we are going to come along to the people who support those members—the Labour members—and we will give them a tax break so they can have more money in their pockets and will not have to go cap in hand to the miserable mean nasty Labour Government and ask whether they can have some of their own money back. 
When Helen Clark came to office in 1999 she started out as a traditional Labour Prime Minister—robbing Peter to pay Paul. Labour robbed 200000 people who were earning over $60000. It took money off them and said: “To hell with you. To hell with success. To hell with achievement. We can spend this money where we can get some votes.” Do members know what Labour has done in this Budget? I know this will be news to Parekura Horomia. It is actually robbing Peter to pay Peter. Now people who earn $100000 and have six kids can get a handout because they are poor and needy. Under this Government a person on $100000 with six kids is poor and needy. 
What is the solution? The solution is not to have to go and get money from Michael Cullen because he says it is OK to do so. It is not to go off to Mr Copeland who is propping up the godless Labour Party. Oh no that is not— 
Hon Annette King 
: That’s a bit rich. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Maybe but it is a good line. I can say this: if people vote for the ACT party they will be able to keep more of their money and to spend it on their own God as they choose.