Ngaro Alfred: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ngaro Alfred: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 15 August 2012. Volume:682;Page:4405. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
ALFRED NGARO (National) 
: 
 I just want to acknowledge the previous speaker Iain Lees-Galloway and I want to acknowledge that he talked about rugby. In fact I was honoured to play with him over in Palmerston North. He played there and he played such a great game. He represented Labour greatly in that game. It was great. The unfortunate thing was that he was the only one from the Labour Party there which is a true reflection of the party. Rather than being a team party it is a party of loners of lone individuals going off and doing their own little things. But I must admit he did a great job a sterling job. 
There is a saying about this: “Success has many fathers but failure is often an orphan.” We have talked about the rugby and we have talked about Waikato. In Waikato the Chiefs coach David Rennie—and everyone wants to claim someone from there—is actually a Cook Islander. So it was great to have that success. Who was the one who coached them to get over the line? It was a Cook Islander. 
How that fits into this speech is that last week was an adjournment week. It was a great opportunity for us to be able to get into our constituencies and to see our people. On Friday was the celebration at the end of Cook Islands Language Week. We began to celebrate those things we celebrate as our successes as Cook Islanders. It was great. The celebration on Friday night was epitomised by a young woman called PhillisMeti. She has a long list of achievements in the sporting world and it was great to be able to see her there. She summed this up very well when she talked about vision and hope for the future. She said this: “You simply need to have a plan and you need to have small steps that achieve that goal.” That is what we look for in leadership. 
How apt it is then when we talk about a plan. The other side says we do not have a plan. We have this plan and this is a plan that is taking us forward. These steps of achievement are what we also want to talk about. Here is the interesting thing: at the end of that night the conversation moved into politics. People began to ask what is happening in the Labour Party. They were asking what is happening to poor Mr Sio. He is talking about these things that are important. He is beginning to shake the Pacific community. All of a sudden people began to ask the question of whether the Labour Party is the party they wanted to choose to follow. 
In 2005 when the Labour Party won the election Mike Williams the then President of the Labour Party said that if it were not for the Pacific votes it would not have won the election. In that very community which has become the heart and the lifeblood of the Labour Party all of a sudden they are quiet—like they are now. Why? It is because the truth is beginning to sink in. 
Kris Faafoi 
: You want to speak? We’re listening to you. 
ALFRED NGARO 
: Thank you Mr Faafoi. Thank you. That is right. You speak on behalf of the party. Why? It is because the truth is beginning to sink in. What is that truth? Labour is not a Government-in-waiting. It is not a Government-in-waiting. It does not give confidence that it has a plan that it even has goals that it even has little baby steps to achieve those goals—not even a step at all. But hey we should say that on “Planet Labour” you know when things are getting bad: when they start eating their young. That is right. This is how it goes. Where do we look for that evidence? Here it is. Brian Edwards says: “David Shearer has been branded ‘invisible’ by the commentators while his opposite number John Key continues to bask in the warm sun of electorate approval.” Let us go a little bit further. Chris Trotter a left-leaning political commentator says: “Above all other things a political leader must be a communicator—and Mr Shearer isn’t. Not surprisingly the major public opinion polls are all now registering”—hear this—“declining levels of public support for both Mr Shearer and his party.” 
But it gets even better. Here are the Ginsu knives Mr Mallard. Here it is: Matt McCarten political organiser and activist. What a beautiful article he wrote on Sunday. This is what he said: “Here’s the real question: Do Labour front benchers look like they are ready to govern?”. Do they look like it? I will tell you what all of New Zealand is asking that. And guess what? They are not. Matt McCarten asks “Have they earned the confidence of the public?”. They have not. So for all the bantering and for all the waving around and attacks on the National Government have we declined in support? No we have not. In fact we have increased. But it gets even better. At the end this is what he says: he says his point is that most of the caucus is not up to the task. No one knows who the members of the front bench are. No one knows who they are. 
 I could continue to lament on but let us talk about positive things that we are achieving in this Government. Why? Because we are busy working on four priorities. Let us just name what they are. Let us see the four plans: responsibly managing Government finances building a more competitive and productive economy delivering better public services and—let us wait for it—rebuilding Christchurch. We do not forget Christchurch. The general public get it; they know that we are simply trying to live within our means. We are simply being responsible and managing Government finances. Thank you. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.