Pettis Jill: General Debates 
Pettis Jill: General Debates 
[Volume:619;Page:15038] 
JILL PETTIS (Labour—Whanganui) 
: 
 In a caring and sharing way I want to assist Simon Power. He has been receiving overt counselling and mentoring from Murray McCully. Mr McCully has been spending a lot of time with Mr Power since he became the senior Opposition whip. I think Mr McCully is trying to instil a bit of mongrel in Mr Power. I hear that Mr McCully is National’s strategist but I have yet to see any evidence of that strategy working. Mr Power’s strategy should be to keep well away from Mr McCully. He is likely to suffer from whiplash with him in the front and poor Mr Tisch at the back—whip No. 1 in the front and whip No. 2 at the back—from the semaphore signals and signs that will be going on. Mr Brash with this new strategy has got the whips sitting apart for the first time in the history of this Parliament. I guess he has a strategy there somewhere but we are yet to see it. 
I also say to Mr Power that the road to hell is littered with the bones of young men in a hurry. In direct contrast Mr McCully is an old man who pines for the Muldoon years of dark plotting threats and revenge. After all he is the Rasputin of the National caucus. 
First of all Mr Power is not the only one in the National caucus who is confused. I shall help him with Standing Order 43 as to when the House sits. Mr Brash has been in the Chamber for only 2 hours and 20 minutes over a 2-week period. 
Simon Power 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Please be seated. 
Simon Power 
: No I will not be seated. I am raising a point of order. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: No I am dealing with a matter— 
Simon Power 
: You do not know what my point of order is. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member will be seated. It is up to the Chair to deal with a matter that is against the Standing Orders. The member will withdraw the reference to the member’s absence. 
JILL PETTIS 
: Yes most certainly I do withdraw. I just want to help Mr Brash. Standing Order 43 sets out the sittings of the House. It is on page 28 right at the top of the page; he will not have to read much. “Tuesday and Wednesday: 2 pm to 6 pm and 7.30 pm to 10 pm” and “Thursday: 2 pm to 6 pm.” Other members might like to draw his attention to that Standing Order as there is not much to it. He should just pop in every now and then because he has not been here much. 
Mr Brash had the whole of last week to prepare for the appropriations debate on Tuesday. There was plenty of time for a lie-down in-between because it was an adjournment week. He finished his speech 1½ minutes early; he plopped down exhausted and could not go the whole hog. He should keep taking the iron tablets—he must be low in iron. He reminds me of a Paul Simon song. I was talking to my Mulcher FM on air this morning in Hawera about the Paul Simon song “Slip Sliding Away”. The more Mr Brash is nearer his destination the more he is slip sliding away. 
I also tell members on the other side that their caucus is so absolutely riven with division that it must be terrible working out which of those three factions they must align themselves with. I say to John Key that before he does the numbers before he has those nice shots taken of the family at home he should get rid of those ostentatious ornaments on the mantelpiece. Just one of those ornaments would feed one of my constituents for a year. That is not a good look. The ordinary New Zealander could not relate to those ornaments so the member should get rid of them. They kind of destroy the “down home on the farm boy” look. 
The economy in my electorate in the Manawatu-Wanganui region and in the Wanganui district in particular is absolutely fantastically successful. 
Darren Hughes 
: Booming! 
JILL PETTIS 
: It is booming as my colleague said. It is so fantastic that we had a full page in the  
Independent 
 a good story in the  
Listener 
 and a half-page story in the  
New Zealand News UK 
 that my daughter sent me. She was very proud to see her home city featured in it. The  
New Zealand News 
UK 
 states: “In this context the robustness breadth and integrated nature of economic activity in Wanganui are assets that bode well for the future.” This Government is working towards all of New Zealand’s future.