Perry Edwin: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Perry Edwin: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:615;Page:10855] 
EDWIN PERRY (NZ First) 
: 
 Throughout 2003 we heard that Labour had created a surplus. If that is true then why do we have thousands of New Zealanders and taxpayers of this country on waiting lists for urgent operations? The Defence Force is in a shambles. Education is a problem as is housing etc. 
David Benson-Pope 
: It’s not true. 
EDWIN PERRY 
: Yes it is true. I have a letter here from a concerned Kiwi taxpayer that I want to read out to the Labour members: “I myself will not be having a very happy Christmas. Being a young 52-year-old I have one wish for Christmas—it’s a new knee. What I ask you what has happened to our health system? I am sick of waiting. Having been a user of the public health system for 30-odd years when will the Government wake up? Why do they waste so much money on refugees like Mr Zaoui? Isn’t it true that charity begins at home and we look after the ordinary hard-working law-abiding taxpayer of this country?”. 
My most shameful day of last year would have been visiting two prisons in Auckland—the new remand prison and Paremoremo—to see the young Maori males approximately 3000 who currently are housed in our jails. To me it was the most shameful day of my life to see those 18 to 30-year-olds housed in a situation like that. I say to the Labour Party that it has had the Maori vote for 50-odd years and still today Maori are dragging the chain in all the statistics. I am not letting National off the hook because it as well is to blame for a lot of these problems with young Maori. The statistics on Maori health and education are questionable. I ask Labour to tell me who will be going into the four new prisons it will be building. I know who will be going into them: again it will be young Maori who are disadvantaged by the economic restructuring that both Labour and National were involved in selling off the assets—[ 
Interruption 
]—yes kia ora giving them more work. They were involved in selling off strategic assets in the 1980s. Those jobs may not have been certificated situations but they provided life skills for the future of our young people. The upgrading of getting into the Defence Force or the Army has created problems with young Maori today. It is detrimental not only to young Maori but to all New Zealanders. 
I want to touch on the high dollar. The high dollar has affected the Wairarapa and some of its businesses. The tractor sales and equipment sales have slowed down. Forestry operators also are now cautious. Exporters are concerned about how much longer the dollar will climb. When will somebody do something about it? 
Another challenge to the National spokesperson and to Dr Brash is this: why did he not attack the issues of the economy of this country? Why attack Maori? Why attack the situation that National created? National put the kohanga reo programme in place. It initiated Maori health programmes and also Maori television. I ask the National Party whether it will reverse the funding to kohanga reo. I challenge it on that one. The National Party is quiet now because it is one thing to say it and another thing to do it and to be in power to do it. That is the challenge to the National Party. 
Can I touch on Waitangi Day? What a lovely day it was but 30-odd minutes by a few radicals spoiled the whole weekend. New Zealand First was quite proud; we walked around Waitangi quite happy to be there. We were not like Mr Brash who was trying to change the kawa of a marae by taking the media on to the marae instead of taking himself there getting on to the paepae and debating the issues. No he wanted the media to go on. I say to National members that they cannot change the kawa of any marae. 
All I want to say is that we do not know how lucky we are in this country.