Cosgrove Clayton: Address in Reply 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Cosgrove Clayton: Address in Reply 
[Sitting date: 09 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:268. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour) 
: 
 Firstly could I congratulate obviously Lockwood Smith the Speaker on his reappointment. I also pay my respects to the Governor-General as is the tradition in this debate. 
We are some 2½ months from the last election and oh how the world has certainly changed in a number of ways both globally and domestically. It is interesting how personalities change and how the cracks in Governments start to open. It is 2½ months after an election and I congratulate the National Party on its substantial victory. You would have thought that unity would have broken out in this country peace would have reigned and we would now be inheriting the sort of brighter future that John Key promised us not just in one election but in two elections. But if you look at the analysis over the last months weeks and days what do we have? We have division in New Zealand. We have protest. We have court action against the Government. We have Waitangi Tribunal claims being lodged. We have people being insulted—leaders in our community. We have public discontent. And we have no political leadership and no ideas from the Government as evidenced by the Address in Reply debate. 
You can tell of course when a Government gets arrogant. You can tell when in the second term the Government starts to get arrogant. Normally it takes a few years of the second term but it has taken 2½ months. Yesterday we had the senior Minister the politician of the year Gerry Brownlee blow a fuse a sort of political version of a blunderbuss at the Mayor of Christchurch who I would have thought had got a fair bit on his plate—as Mr Brownlee does every day of course; three times I think. He called Bob Parker a clown. 
I have to say I sat there for a minute knowing Mr Brownlee as I do and tried to work out where he was at the time when he thought of this wonderful term “clown”. What sort of inspiration was he thinking of? Then it became clear; I looked up Wikipedia and it became clear. Mr Brownlee’s favourite restaurant of course being McDonald’s I thought that must be his inspiration—the McDonald’s clown. Of course it was because if you look at Wikipedia you see that it says about Ronald McDonald the clown that represents the fast-food chain that he “inhabits a fantasy world called McDonaldland and has adventures with his friend Mayor McCheese …”. I thought that must be Gerry; after the third double-meat burger and chips he blows a fuse and attacks the Mayor of Christchurch. You know when a Government is cracking and you know a Government is starting to get arrogant when you have that sort of stuff going on. 
We have protest in this country now we have division in this country now and I am waiting and New Zealand is waiting for the so-called economic brighter future that Mr Key promised us. If you look at the job figures of course you see that full-time jobs are down the number of hours worked is down 100000 people want or need more hours to make ends meet 83000 people—mostly young people—are not in education work or training quality jobs are going out the door and families cannot make ends meet. This Government’s answer its only idea—apart from abusing mayors of Christchurch and others—its only strategy is first just manage and spin the economic decline manage the decline manage the drift south and secondly the big idea which of course is not original sell State assets. Again you can tell a Government is cracking when you see the arrogance come out again. 
This Government won an election—I accept that. But I say this: those members know and the polls show that the State-owned enterprise sales the fire sales that this Government is going to engage in have been rejected by New Zealanders and the discontent is growing. The thing that Mr Brownlee does not get as he blows another powder keg and has another crack at people is that people in the communities are not silly and they can work out basic economics. They know of course that when you sell revenue-generating assets when you max the credit card out as this crowd has borrowing hundreds of millions of bucks a week when you spend all the cash as this crowd has—just like a household spending all its income; all the cash is gone and you keep borrowing—your only alternative is to sell something. So you sell the car but you keep borrowing on the credit card. So you pay off maybe a month’s debt but you keep borrowing and on it goes. What do you do then? You sell the motorbike maybe. You sell the fridge. You keep selling and you erode your assets. 
Well the communities have worked it out. Mr Brownlee once said on radio that the communities do not understand budgets people do not understand basic economics— 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: I never said that! 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: Yes you did on Newstalk ZB. I say to Mr Brownlee that if you can balance your household budget in these recessionary times you would have a PhD in economics something Mr Brownlee will not even get close to. People have worked it out. So the Government strategy and the big idea is for this crowd to sell revenue-generating assets and then try to—[ 
Interruption 
] Old “Twinkletoes” at the back is getting fired up. Then they try to sell it to the people of New Zealand by saying “We are going to buy schools. We are going to build schools and the odd bridge. We are going to invest this money in other assets.” People think hey that is not a bad idea—because we are all in favour of schools and better roads and those things. But here is the difficulty economically: you sell revenue-generating assets you forgo the dividends you buy non - revenue-generating assets and at some point in time—I know that this will be a bit difficult for Mr Brownlee; use all your fingers and toes Gerry—you run out of cash. 
Then the proposition is what you do then. You have continued to borrow you have no cash you have sold the asset you have used up the cash so what is the proposition then? The only option for this Government is to sell more—to sell more. Those members have this sort of ideological block. Labour members engaged in this in the 1980s—remember colleagues? But we learnt. These guys engaged in it in the 1990s got re-elected and did not learn. I invite them to walk down their streets and ask people: “Are you in favour of selling State-owned enterprises? Are you in favour of selling your power companies?”. Because people have also worked out that these are commercial operations and they know there will be overseas interest in them. Tony Ryall confirmed in the House that he has no plans no ideas and cannot stop the passing on and onsale of shares from maybe the odd mum and dad Kiwi who might find some cash after they have paid all their household bills—if they have got a job—to whip down to the stockbroker and buy some shares. Government members have no plans no options and cannot stop shares passing on to overseas interests. 
Why would overseas interests—or anybody—buy a State-owned enterprise? They do not do it out of a charitable spirit. They buy it to make money. We know what will happen to power prices. Overseas interests are not going to sit there and say to the Government they are happy just to take a static dividend or they are happy just to take less. They are going to say “We want more money.” and they are going to screw it out of the people of New Zealand. Peter Dunne will be here somewhere I am sure; I am sure I can see him. If the Maori Party acquiesces and actually does the right thing and walks he may go down in history as this country’s best auctioneer—going going gone. He may well hold the pivotal vote that can either stop this going forward or allow it to go forward. I invite Peter Dunne to reflect on that. He will make history one way or the other. He will make history over this. 
So the big idea after you have maxed the card out and got rid of all the cash is to flog off the family silver. At least Government members are honest enough to say that if they win another election they will consider doing it again but they will do it after the election. So we know that once they have sold these assets there are others on the block. There is a campaign being engendered and generated around the country from grassroots Kiwis who have been down this road before do not like it know that it does not work and know that this crowd are bereft of ideas. We can tell they are bereft of ideas because they start attacking good community folk. When you attack in the press the Mayor of Christchurch who has probably got the hardest job in New Zealand as a mayor trying to rebuild his city because you blew a fuse—maybe you did not have a decent kip the night before or the tuck shop was closed before you got there—it is a sign of a Government under stress. 
It is going to be interesting as we go through this State-owned enterprises debate to see the twisting and the turning that will occur over section 9. It is happening now. The Prime Minister knows the complications in respect of the creative remedies around that. But I invite the next speaker to get up and explain Mr Brownlee’s actions and I invite the Government to think very carefully. Mr Brownlee’s actions are an example of where it is heading.