Carter John: Tariff (New Zealand - Thailand Closer Economic Partnership) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Carter John: Tariff (New Zealand - Thailand Closer Economic Partnership) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:21432] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 As I look around the House tonight I see the member who has just resumed his seat Ken Shirley and the member who spoke a little earlier Dail Jones. I can see no one else who has actually experienced what is it like to be part of Government that is about to lose an election. Those who have been through that like Ken Shirley Dail Jones and myself know what the smell is like. They know the feeling. They sit there and they look. They smell the stench. They feel the decay. They understand what a party on its way out feels like. That is what we are seeing— 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: Have you got only one speech? 
JOHN CARTER 
: Ruth Dyson has asked me whether I have only one speech. Quite honestly at the moment it is the only one I feel like giving and it is glad tidings for New Zealand. At last it looks as if this lot is on its way out. The point I am making is that members sit there emitting hope thinking they may be able to hang on and not looking at reality. I look at things like this legislation and I look at the headline: “Labour backs ‘sorry’ envoy” and I see that it has happened again has it not? This is what happens when a Government is going out of power. The stories are bad. The Government brings legislation through because it worries that it will not get another chance to do some of the socialist things it wants to do as a socialist Government. 
We have had the first reading debate the second reading debate and today the Committee stage of this bill. We have pushed this bill through under urgency. It is an important bill because it organises free-trade relations between our country and another. But underlying it are all the things this Government was asked to tell us about but could not or would not—one or the other. Those of us who have been around for a while know why. It is because one gets to the stage when one is too tired to respond. It is such a big effort to bring legislation of this nature forward that when the Opposition starts asking deep questions such as why there are exceptions in the legislation and why there are clauses in it that refer to the Treaty of Waitangi—we want to know that means what the implications are and what the words “obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi” mean—the Government cannot answer them. We know that it has spent all its energy on getting the legislation into the House and that it is beyond its ability to explain its reasons any more. That is why someone with a few years’ experience in this place can smell the decay and the stench. One can smell the rotting carcass of a Government on its way out of office. 
This is a great day. Here we are debating the Tariff (New Zealand - Thailand Closer Economic Partnership) Bill which is an important piece of legislation. The Labour Government after 6 long years—far longer than 9 years under National—has finally given us something positive. I must say that I commend the officials who have worked hard to make this happen. Good on them. I commend their Minister for the work he has done because undoubtedly lots of hard work has been done. But unfortunately there are so many qualifications around the agreement that it is limited at this stage. But that is OK because at least we have a foundation so that the incoming Government can fix it up and that can be done too. 
I want to focus on two issues tonight. The first is the fact that we have all these exceptions—all these issues that really matter. The fact is that all the qualifications around the agreement will cause lots of complications. Mark my words—as previous speakers have said there are issues that will cause us problems as we develop this agreement. In fact one of my colleagues said to me earlier as other speakers have said that it is a lawyer’s dream. [ 
Interruption 
] Yes well one of them was unkind enough to say that there is some good in it because it will help the lawyers but of course that is not the intention. The agreement is intended to help the country and it will. But sadly it will cause some legal complications on the way through. The second important issue is the fact that this Government is still trying to tell the nation—as in the speech made by Mr Mallard in the middle of last year—that there are no preferences for Maori under the Labour Government any more. Yet in this bill we have a clause that gives preferential treatment to Maori. In my view that is an absolute insult. 
Jill Pettis 
: When are you going to mention the whanau? 
JOHN CARTER 
: I do not need to. I seriously do not need to. The fact that this clause is in the bill says enough. It says that this Government has not moved away from patronising the Maori people of this country. The Government is saying that the Maori are not as good as the rest of New Zealanders whereas people like me who represent a good number of Maori people know that they are just as good and make as big a contribution to this nation as any other New Zealanders. And they do so because they are New Zealanders not because of their race. That is the issue that Labour unfortunately cannot get its mind around. It is not a matter of race; it is a matter of contribution. It is a matter of doing what is right because one is a New Zealander and the people of Northland Maori and non-Maori do. 
I am proud to represent the people of Northland. I am proud that those people if they were in this House today would support my saying these words regardless of their race. They are Northlanders and they are New Zealanders. They want to see this nation go ahead and they do not need clauses in legislation that give special preferences to anybody. They are not those sorts of people. They are here for New Zealanders. They do accept that there are some in our society who need assistance from time to time and who for some reason have not done as well as others and need some support. They understand that the incoming National Government will give those people that support. What they cannot accept is the fact that they currently have a Government that thinks it can condescend to Maori and give them a special preference when they do not need it. That is one of the reasons—one of the many reasons—why this Government has suddenly acquired the smell of an outgoing Government. It suddenly has that aroma—one that it cannot wash off. Members can put on as much under-arm deodorant aftershave and spray as they like but the aroma does not go away. Ken Shirley knows that; he has been there. Dail Jones knows that; he has been there. I have too and however much one washes it does not disappear. When members are on their way out they are on their way out. We support this bill but we do so with some qualifications.