Heatley Phil: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Heatley Phil: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:645;Page:14145] 
PHIL HEATLEY (National—Whangarei) 
: 
 My National Party colleagues and I—and the vast majority of New Zealanders across this country; we know this by the polls and by the phone calls to our offices—support the motion of John Key that this House has no confidence in the Helen Clark - led Government because it has failed to make any significant improvement in the areas of real importance to New Zealanders because it lacks ambition because it is tired and bereft of ideas because it has lost touch with the people who put it in power and because under its leadership of our country our country has become a story of lost opportunities. Mark my words and we all know it by any measurement as time has gone on Labour has concentrated more and more on its own survival and less and less on the issues that matter to the people who put it there. Labour has squandered New Zealanders’ economic inheritance by failing to build strong foundations for the future. These are the questions that Kiwis really want answers to. Why after 8 years of Labour are we paying the second-highest interest rates in the developed world? That is the first question. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Hey you’ve got Georgina’s speech. 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: The second question Kiwis are asking I say to Trevor Mallard is this. As Trevor Mallard bullies and punches colleagues in this House these questions are what New Zealanders really want to hear the answers to. Why under Labour is the gap between our wages and the wages in Australia and in other parts of the world getting bigger and bigger? 
The third question is this. Why under Labour do we get a tax cut only in election year when we really needed it years ago? Then there is the fourth big question. If we look at the members opposite they are hanging their heads. They have stopped heckling because they cannot answer the first three questions. Question four is why cannot hard-working kids—and I am not talking about Darren Hughes over there I am talking about hard-working kids outside Parliament—afford to buy their own house? 
Question five is why is one in five Kiwi kids leaving school with grossly inadequate literacy and numeracy skills? Why when Labour members claim they aspire to be carbon neutral do our greenhouse gases continue to increase at an alarming rate? Why has the health system not improved when billions of extra dollars have been poured into it? Why have the Labour members opposite gone quiet? It is because they are all on their phones ringing the Prime Minister and saying: “We have not got an answer to Mr Heatley’s questions or Mr Key’s questions. Give us one Auntie Helen because if you do not give us one we will ring Shane Jones and Shane Jones will give us the answer. He is our man. Yes indeed we have skipped a whole generation of lazy Labour MPs and we will go to Shane Jones.” 
The next question is why is violent crime against innocent New Zealanders continuing to soar and why is Labour unable to do anything about it? Those questions are being asked by all Kiwis up and down the country. They are asking why why why. That is why they are demanding the head of Helen Clark—as will those MPs opposite who would replace it with Shane Jones but it will probably all be too late. 
National will focus on the real issues facing New Zealand. We will not fixate on the tired old political debates from 20 or 30 years ago. We will not blame an MP who was here 30 years ago as Helen Clark did. Unlike Labour John Key and the National team understand why Kiwis are demanding change. They are demanding change because they think it is time for a Government that says no to mediocrity and that expects more for New Zealand. National will lift wages by driving economic growth. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: How? 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: Darren Hughes does not know how. National says it will lift wages by driving economic growth. Darren Hughes who has been working for this Government for 8 years—3 years as a little secretary and 5 years recently as an MP and a few of those as a Minister—does not know the answer so I will tell him. We will do it by investing in infrastructure through ongoing tax cuts and through monitoring the quality and quantity of Government spending. There is the answer for Darren Hughes. He should ring the Prime Minister and let her know: “The Nats have the answer. I can’t believe we didn’t get it. Surely we should have talked to the people and we would have known.” 
National will create safer communities. We will take the brave steps needed to address this country’s growing crime problem. We will ensure our education system delivers real opportunity to young people. We will give Kiwis confidence in the public services they rely on. In fact we are more interested in building performance than in building a bureaucracy which is all this Labour Government has ever been interested in. Whether it is buying votes through jobs in the Public Service or cash for votes out there in the communities that is all Labour members have been interested in—building bureaucracy. We are interested in performance. John Key and the National Party are interested in performance. We will build a more confident New Zealand with a proud sense of nationhood. 
It has gone silent again on the Government benches and I see what those members are doing. They are no longer ringing the Prime Minister; they have their paper out and they are taking notes. Little Darren Hughes is taking notes for Trevor Mallard because Trevor cannot write because his knuckles are broken. What was he doing in the weekend? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member will use a member’s full name or his or her title. 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: This Government is tired. This Government is getting old. This Government has lost ideas it has lost momentum and it has clearly lost hope. It has lost opportunities for Kiwis up and down the country so much so that we have seen 700 Kiwis per week in recent years many of them young people on whom we have spent money to train here shoot off overseas and most of them go to Australia. 
Paula Bennett 
: Seven hundred a week? 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: Seven hundred a week going mostly to Australia. The only thing we can be thankful for is that they are still as close as Australia so that they can keep an eye and an ear on what John Key and the National Party are saying about them during this election. We will be talking about how much we value them saying that we want them back and that we will reward them for effort and saying that we will reward them with more opportunity. We will be talking about how we will entice them back. It is a big thing to turn round. After 8 years of the flight to Australia it is a big thing to turn round but we are positive for our country. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: A few slogans should do it. 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: The young Darren Hughes is speaking with his breaking voice. I am glad he has taken notes. I am glad he rang the Prime Minister. I hope he steals some of our policies in this coming election and makes it a real fight.