Goff Phil: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Goff Phil: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 21 February 2007. Volume:637;Page:7553. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Defence) 
: 
 There goes an absolute lesson in double standards. Is this really Maurice Williamson a Minister in the previous National Government that was kept alive by the vote of Alamein Kopu who was elected as an Alliance member of Parliament? She voted for National to keep it in power—National desperate to hold on in the dying days of that administration and now— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: She didn’t break the law. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: She did not break the law but what about the situation in the previous term of this Labour-led Government? There was the National Party being supported consistently by Donna Awatere-Huata. When did the National Party step aside and say that it did not want Donna Awatere-Huata’s vote? Of course it never did. Double standards and hypocrisy—that is what we have been hearing. 
More than that we saw at the start of this debate the absolute disarray and confusion in the National Party whose members did not even understand they were to lead the debate—but then we saw something even more interesting. The man who stormed out of this Chamber abusing the Speaker was the demoted leader aspirant Gerry Brownlee bitter and frustrated about his leadership loss. 
I have been watching the body language along the front row of the Opposition benches and I have been watching Bill English—the loyal deputy. Bill English is the man John Key went to see that evening in 2003. John Key went to Bill English’s home sat in Bill’s lounge with Bill and his wife and said that he was for Bill and would vote for him in the leadership caucus the next day. Then at their next meeting John Key went back on his word and voted against Bill English. He double-crossed and betrayed him and there on Bill English’s face we can see the desire for revenge. That man the deputy leader is waiting for the first chance he can get for John Key to slip—and the hand will not be a hand to help John Key up; it will be a hand to give him the finishing coup de grãce. That is what we will see in the National Party. And then there is Nick Smith. He was the deputy leader of the National Party—for 2 weeks. 
But I want to raise some other questions of credibility about the National Party. I recommend that National members who have not read  
The Hollow Men  
should read it carefully because I want to talk about lack of credibility in leadership. I see in the appendix of this book an email to Mr John Key from the leader of the Exclusive Brethren telling John Key that he would spend a million dollars to support the National Party through the party vote. Was that the same John Key who 2 months later stated that he knew nothing about the Exclusive Brethren after meeting them? Every National MP—Maurice Williamson was one—said they did not know what the Exclusive Brethren were about to do but this book shows quite conclusively that National caucus MPs were shown the pamphlets attacking the Greens. Lies were said in that election campaign I say to Mr Williamson and denials were made that were untrue. That National Party has no credibility. 
But here is another great quote from this book—let me read it directly from the book. The National Party was doing very badly so it employed a guy called Peter Keenan. Peter Keenan said that National members had to improve—that everybody had to go to “presentation skills courses” so they could pull off “sincerity”. He said: “The secret of success is sincerity and conviction.” and “Once you can fake that you have got it made.” Is that what John Key’s taking little Aroha Ireland up to Waitangi was about? Is that what the concern about the disadvantaged in my electorate was about? It was about faking sincerity. 
I say to National members that if they are really sincere about low-income folk in this country how about they support a regular increase in the minimum wage—which this Government has given and which the previous National Government never did. How about them backing off from what Bill English said about decile 1 schools being overfunded and awash with cash? John Key turned up to a decile 1 school in my electorate feigning concern feigning support when his deputy leader was saying that those low-income schools were getting too much cash. 
When will National members come clean on what they intend to do about Housing New Zealand Corporation rents? If they are worried about low-income people are they going back to the policy they promoted in office and in Opposition about market rents for low-income folk? That is how people are pushed into poverty—by taking low-income people and putting up their rents to the point they cannot bear the rents and then by selling the houses on the basis that they are not needed.