Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 28 November 2012. Volume:686;Page:6864. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery) 
: 
 That was a ramble from one of the central figures in the so-called media-proposed “Coalition of the Losers”. There was a time when Winston Peters would have come into this House and delivered a speech totally off the cuff and not have had to stand there somewhat sadly protesting that he had written the speech himself and then nominating himself as a moron. I think that was an appalling speech and it totally misunderstands the modern nature of the New Zealand economy and the opportunities that we need to take in order to deliver to the friends that he has in Grey Power. So here is a man who is telling us about people flocking to his meetings Grey Power members flocking to his meetings all held in telephone boxes seven or eight people crammed in there setting a  
Guinness Book of Records 
 new status as they listen to Winston Peters. Well what he does not tell them is that in the 9 years that he supported a Labour Government they got very little increase in their incomes. In just 4 years—just 4 years—under National the married rate for superannuation has gone up by $200 a fortnight $100 a week $5000 a year. That is what Grey Power members really understand about the current Government. So smarten up the message and the member might have a chance of being that central figure but it will still be a “Coalition of the Losers”. 
Today is a great day of celebration here in Wellington and throughout the country as we are going to witness the premiere of  
The Hobbit 
 directed by Peter Jackson. What a great occasion it is where the whole world is going to look in on New Zealand and see the work not only of the creative genius Peter Jackson but also of the 3000 New Zealanders who worked on that production who are involved in the creative industry and who would not have had that work had Labour been the Government. Let us make no bones about it. If you go back to 2010 when the movie was being proposed Mr Simon Whipp an Australian unionist came to town riding roughshod over everybody getting the unions in the United States to back him—and they backed off him in the end because they thought he was so extreme—telling them that unless that was a unionised picture those contractors who have worked on it hard-working creatives who do struggle from time to time to get work and wanted the long tenure that these three films have been able to provide them would not have jobs unless they joined his Australian union. 
 And who backed him? Who backed him? The Labour Party—the Labour Party backed him. Did Labour members care whether or not this film would be made? No they did not. But I want to know whether if the premiere today had been held in Edinburgh or if the premiere today had been held in London would Grant Robertson have gone? Would David Shearer have gone? Would Annette King have gone? Oh she is nodding. Of course she would! Any Eastern bloc country with a big red flag would be a place where that woman would be happy. Can I say that I think it is great that they have finally seen the light that they will attend that premiere tonight and that they will celebrate along with the many creators who are responsible for producing that great work. But it does smack of a party so bereft of ideas that when something its proposes goes wrong it suddenly grabs a flag and gets in front of a parade that is going the other way. That is David Shearer and he is no better than any of the other Davids. I want to give the House a bit of a prediction this afternoon: once Labour members get to the realisation that they cannot get a real leader from the three Davids they are bound to go for a Clayton. That is my prediction—the leader you get when you have not got a leader. 
The central figure in this whole sad sorry saga was the unions. If we look at the Labour Party conference held in the last couple of weeks that party has now formally—or even more formally—cosied up and handed over its whole political agenda to the union movement. It is a sad day for this country when a political party that should be free and open to new ideas locks itself up so much with an ideology that is about yesterday’s world about having shop floor rules for every job that goes and ends up in a position where it cannot offer a reasonable economic policy. Nor can it count.