Prasad Rajen: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumePrasad Rajen: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 29 January 2014. Volume:696;Page:15650. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr RAJEN PRASAD (Labour): I am delighted to make a contribution to the debate on the Prime Minister’s statement because what it does give me is an opportunity to show the stark differences between that side of the House—the National-led side of the House—and what Labour will do what this side of the House will do in Government. Although the last member Nikki Kaye paints that in a particular way it actually is very far from what is needed and what this side of the House would do. What that side of the House does is preach a particular brand of politics which is the politics of arrogance. What this side wants to do under a David Cunliffe - led Government is something quite different. I will explain that as I go. The John Key - led Government is arrogant. There is no doubt about that. There has been plenty of that on display in the House today by thebucketload by new Ministers and a few others. But that arrogance is palpable and Ministers show it. The Minister of Labour shows that every time he gets up and today those bounds were breached by the Minister of Immigration just a couple of hours ago.I was reading RebeccaMacfie’sTragedy at Pike River Mine over the holidays and it is a good read. Anybody with a social conscience ought to read that. It is a classic case of how capitalists design spin around greed and actually drive it mercilessly to produce profit. That is what Pike River was about when you follow the 10 to 15-year history of the company that set Pike River up. It was around greed and spin and it drove it. It drove it with guile it drove it with dishonesty and it drove it with spin. It did not care a damn about what was going to happen either to the environment in that area or to those men who went down the mine. And look what happened—look what happened. People paid for that with their lives. That is the politics of arrogance and the politics of spin that that side of the House internalises and this side of the House will expose it every time.Whenever we come up with policies as indeed we have the National Party will do what it has displayed in the House today. Its modus operandi is clear to see—find thelittle holes find the little bits that do not quite synchronise find the bits that it does not understand but apply spin to it. [Interruption] I say to the member from the back—many of them are quite new; members are learning spin already. But there is so much spin. I say to that member that there is little truth to it and they do not care a damn. That is nowhere more palpable than when it comes to the most vulnerable.The Prime Minister’s statement used three words. One was “desperate”. Yes the Government is desperate. It is desperate to match Labour on education. Education has been a mess. We have come up with policies. We are looking at it. What has National done? It has now moved from that big thinking about national testing to what is now really performance pay by any other name. So by a small number of teachers going around schools getting paid $50000 more each the whole education system will change! Actually it will not. We will see plenty more of that. National is not putting our children first. I am sure National will do that as well. It will become desperate with our childcare policies and it will come up with something similar.It is quite interesting. Whenever this side of the House comes up with a policy and it costs some money that is unaffordable according to the National Government. That is unaffordable. But the same day—the same hour—it comes up with hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of expenditure. Oh no that is investment! That is the spin that that side of the House puts up. When it spends it it is investment; when this side of the House talks about spending it is unaffordable. That is intellectually dishonest. But those members are used to that. That side of the House has been doing this branding for a long period of time. None of that is convincing. We know what those members have done. They have given a billion dollars of tax cuts. They have to sell State assets to pay for them and now everything else has to take its place. Those members have made so many mistakes. Now the desperation that they have is coming to the fore.Secondly I will talk about the divide. Yes indeed the Government has divided this society. That is what it has done. The Prime Minister used the word “divided”. National takes away from the poor. Look at much of what the Government has done. It has taken away from the poor. It has divided our society. Look at all of the welfare reform programmes. They are punitive. They are punitive towards the most vulnerable in our society.The Prime Minister also talks about “delusional”. Well indeed the Government is delusional. It talks about running a surplus. It talks every day about running a surplus. But this is the Government that has borrowed $55 billion in the last 5 years—$55 billion. When it came into power national debt was $10 billion. What is the national debt today? It is $65 billion. Oh no but that is all the recession! That is on everything else!Hon Michael Woodhouse: Ask the member to your right why we did it.Dr RAJEN PRASAD: I will come to the Minister of Immigration in a minute and I promise the Minister that I will because he was part of the arrogant brigade this afternoon and I will show him why that actually is not the way to do things. That side is delusional. Those members are the ones who created a huge debt for this country and it will take a Labour Government to come into power and change that.This side believes in the politics of conviction. It is a very very different approach to that side of the House and it is most evident when we look at the approaches to children. Indeed when you look at this side of the House—and National might try to find real chinks in the armour. But there is no doubt about it: $60 a week for the most vulnerable with young children under 1 year old will make a huge difference. There is no doubt about it. There are many outside here who are confirming that and actually looking to raise early childhood education. There is no doubt about it. It is going to make a difference in the lives of parents with young children—25 hours. That needs tobe included. We will fund the building of early childhood centres. That is going to make a difference. We will reverse the cuts of qualified teachers in early childhood education. We will reverse that.When it comes to paid parental leave it is quite interesting. Those members are not interested. We know that it is paid parental leave that makes a difference. Parents with children make a difference. We know that an early start for children makes a difference which is why Best Start is designed by David Cunliffe. It will make a difference and we know from the best science. We know that it is from the beginning from the start—what children get at home the communities in which they live the resources that are provided and the commitment that society shows. If that is not done then they suffer. But what that side of the House is happy to do is to discount the children. Somehow those members present this spin that we can do it through work. Well it is going to take a long time for the parent of a child born today to actually get a job to make the difference. So there is a lot more that this Government needs to do to convince anybody that it is not just the politics of spin.I want to come to immigration for a moment. Here is a Minister of Immigration who is presiding over one of the worst rorts we have ever seen in New Zealand and that is the job selling that is going on right now.Campbell Live exposed that and there are many many like that. There are people who are working in immigration—professionals parents businesses—who have come to many of us to display those. But when that evidence is presented to that Minister the Hon Michael Woodhouse what does he do? “Oh well they can come and complain.” That Minister shows no understanding of how that system works. How will a person right in the middle of that system come and complain Minister? What is going to happen to them? So there is no appreciation. We have called for an inquiry. Have the conviction Minister—have the conviction—to have an inquiry into that made up of smart people. Get people the protection so that that Minister can then learn what the actual rorts are. That Minister is presiding over the destruction of the reputation of a good country and a good system.Finally I say to that Minister that he is very used to throwing rocks today. But I say to the Minister to have a look. There is nobody in this caucus who has been investigated for selling jobs—nobody in this caucus. So do not go far from home. If you live in a glass house do not throw stones. I say to that member that there is a lot more that that member has to learn about immigration.Hon Michael Woodhouse: Pick up the phone. It’s not hard.Dr RAJEN PRASAD: Nobody will call you Minister because the moment they do what happens? Immigration currently does not have the resources to do the job. Immigration cannot do this work. So I say to that side of the House that spin will get you nowhere and we will expose that throughout the election campaign. Thank you.Debate interrupted.