Chadwick Steve: General Debate 
Chadwick Steve: General Debate 
[Volume:647;Page:16154] 
Hon STEVE CHADWICK (Minister of Conservation) 
: 
 The previous speech may have been a very witty diatribe from a member of the Opposition trying to work out what is going on but we say “game on”; this is a serious time in the political cycle. It is game on for this Labour Government while we watch the Leader of the Opposition going around the country determined to be just a small target just a little target saying whatever he wants to direct to that audience what they want to hear or what the polls are telling him he should say to that audience but actually not coming out with any policy. When he does try to come out with a policy we see him slipping and sliding and changing that policy at the first opportunity when he comes back to face reality. 
We expect to see more depth from a leader or someone who thinks he is going to be a leader of a Government and we are not seeing it. If we go down one or two levels below the rhetoric and the smile of John Key we cannot see any political depth at all. We are even starting to see a bit of a swagger. It is a worry when we see a bit of a swagger from someone and some of his junior spokespeople who go around Wellington saying: “When I’m a Minister you’ll be with me as my political adviser.” It all comes back to us. We are hearing the stories. They come straight back to us. We hear who has contacted people to say: “When we’re in you’ll be there beside me.” That is not going down very well. 
We need a vision from the Opposition. We are not seeing it; we are seeing an impoverished view of “New Zealand Inc.” We heard it again today on net migration. Whereas we have an immigration gain and the Leader of the Opposition knows it he seems to want everybody to go over to Australia. He seems to be saying that Australia is a better place and telling people to “go forward”. If that is someone who wants to lead that is not a very good vision for New Zealanders who are looking at where they hang their hat. When things go wrong with his media statements he blames the journalists. He is already falling into that trap. 
The Opposition is not supporting those fantastic initiatives—building new classrooms lowering the teacher-pupil ratio more surgery funding—announced this week. Tony Ryall was really rattled. Is the Opposition intent on keeping the investment in more elective surgery over the next 4 years for 5000 New Zealanders as well as giving tax cuts which at the moment stand at $50-plus a week—because that is what the polls tell National that people will expect. I am not sure about that. New Zealanders will start to stack it up. 
I want to talk about John Key’s position on climate change. It is deeply worrying considering I am off to Germany for a conference on biodiversity to say that our Leader of the Opposition an aspirant to lead this country once thought that climate change was a hoax then he became leader and supported the emissions trading scheme and now he has changed his mind again. Imagine the world leaders hearing that in Bonn next week. It will be deeply worrying internationally. 
We also saw his call on the therapeutics bill. He was all over the place. What a fool he has made of himself there. The Opposition panned the therapeutics bill and voted it down but John Key the leader has said he is prepared to reconsider it and that as soon as they get in they will change their minds on that one. We tell him to come clean with the public of New Zealand and to stop playing politics on the big issues that matter to New Zealand’s economy as we are seeing. 
I want to talk about slips over policy that look good when he is here at home because they are what people want to hear but look dreadful when he goes overseas. New Zealand’s reputation overseas really matters to us. In terms of health will the Nats take the cap off the general practitioner fees and pull the veil on yet another policy? Of course they will. They have sidelined two of their three doctors in their health policy who stood there looking like stunned mullets. They are not even in the health team; two doctors were sidelined while Tony Ryall who has no credibility in the health sector went out and led on health policy. It is considered a farce out there. What did Tony Ryall come up with this week? All he could do was pick holes in the capital plan to improve dental services.