Roy Eric: General Debate 
Roy Eric: General Debate 
[Volume:638;Page:8201] 
ERIC ROY (National—Invercargill) 
: 
 I am pleased to be able to take part in today’s general debate but not overly happy about the subject we find ourselves debating—or were debating—because the member who has just sat down the Hon Paul Swain has indicated that Government members have nothing to offer in explanation. We have seen from that member an attempt at a diversion tactic. His efforts are really an indication of a Government that has given up on the hard issues. 
Today a letter had been put in requesting an urgent debate straight after question time. The Speaker indicated that the general debate would be the opportunity for members to participate in raising the questions on that matter. We expected there would be at least some kind of interchange but the effort put in by the Hon Paul Swain is as I said a clear indication that the Government has given up. It has given up not just on the issue of Medlab and the provision of laboratory services but on a whole range of things. You see the public at large have an expectation that I do not believe is inappropriate. People expect Ministers who carry a warrant who get to ride around in chauffer-driven cars who have privileges and who are paid much better than most other people in this country to give governance. That is their expectation and that expectation is not unreasonable from a public who elect a Government and want Ministers to take responsibility. 
But we do not have governance; we have a shambles. We have Ministers who are very good on mitigation but not very good on management. Yes they can give explanations of when things go wrong but the public wants the shambles to stop. They want some assurance. Members of the public are now are saying that they have no confidence in this Government to resolve the hard issues. We have a Government that has fed us a number of slogans. One slogan probably worth considering right now was used in the lead-up to the 1999 election. It is: “Labour will bring a new standard of governance.” Did we know that it would be so much worse? There has been no governance. Then we were told: “In the next 3 years we will be in the top half of the OECD.” A current slogan is: “We will be carbon neutral.” These are aspirations. If the Government cannot handle the day-to-day stuff then what confidence can we have that the expectations of every New Zealander will be met—expectations that their health needs can be met that they can be safe in their homes and that their kids get an opportunity to learn at school? 
Today some of my colleagues have mentioned some illustrations of the shambles out there. I too am particularly concerned that we have a Government that has not really taken responsibility in a range of areas. As my colleague Jonathan Coleman mentioned we have had a total breakdown in the areas of corrections and justice. There was the issue of Liam Ashley being murdered by a killer in the back of a truck. At that point we expected the Minister responsible to put in place provisions to stop anything similar from happening. Yet we have a dialogue of illustrations including the Graeme Burton case where the alarm bells were ringing and the Department of Corrections was doing absolutely nothing. It was in denial. The basic Anglo-Saxon response to a crisis is to ignore and deny. That is not why Ministers hold warrants. It is not why they are elected to govern. But in this particular case the Minister has not even stood up to give us an adequate response. He has not said: “Yes I take responsibility for this.” We had the head of the Parole Board set a standard that could not be matched by a Minister carrying a warrant and being driven around in a chauffer-driven car. 
Then there is the issue of education. As I said New Zealanders expect their kids to be able to have the kind of education that actually gets them through the process of learning. In this last week or two we have had illustration after illustration from schools that are saying: “Hang on we just don’t trust the NCEA any more. Let’s go out there and look at getting an alternate standard put in place so that at least we can offer students a qualification that has some substance to it.” Is the Minister of Education doing anything to correct that? Again no. That is just another illustration of the shambles out there. 
Then there was the breaking news yesterday about the contract put in place with Diagnostic Medlab being overruled by the court with the tender process being shown in a whole lot of ways to be inappropriate and suspect. We have a situation now where about a third of New Zealanders who rely on those laboratory services have questions about whether those services can be delivered.