Pettis Jill: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Pettis Jill: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:623;Page:18353] 
JILL PETTIS (Labour—Whanganui) 
: 
 I am very proud that this Government is investing so heavily in the early childhood sector. The comments made by the Prime Minister in her speech about the huge investment we are making and will continue to make in this area have generated a lot of debate. I welcome that debate. I welcome the comments from the sensitive new-age guys about childcare. I wonder where they have been all these years but I am very pleased that we are at long last having an open debate about the care of children while mothers are working. I was a working mother. Unfashionably I went back to work very very early. I was able to do that because I had a supportive mother who gave up her time to look after our children; but the tension levels in our house rose considerably 2 weeks before any school holidays because it is not easy finding childcare—in fact it was impossible when my children were very young and I was working. So I am proud of the very positive results we are getting from investments in programmes like the out-of-school-care and recreation programmes and all the other childcare services that are now being provided and were not provided in such great numbers until this Government invested so heavily in them. 
The media has been dominated this week by comments about what has happened to Katherine Rich. Katherine Rich tries to be a soft face for a hard message. She tries to reinforce this idea by using her gender to substitute for flawed and failed policies. One is reminded of a programme that used to be on TV  
The Smiling Assassin 
. Katherine is a very wise woman. She has planned this for a long time. There was no shock-horror surprise about this at all. Ms Rich did not come down in the last shower. She knew exactly what she was doing. In fact she had the whole of the holidays to plan it for goodness’ sake! She voted for Brash. She knew that his speech was not a winner. She knows he is dog tucker and she is looking towards the future. She is a young woman with a long political future ahead of her. This is all very calculated so I do not know what all this mock horror and surprise—“What a shame; isn’t it terrible?”—is all about. Ms Rich knows exactly what she is doing. 
She made a major blunder on the paid parental leave issue. She said she was taking paid time off work for her new baby because it was the right thing to do. That is perfectly fine—absolutely. She said she was going to do that regardless of her party’s stance on paid parental leave. But weeks later she retracted her statement and claimed that she had not stopped drawing a salary for the very reason that she had not stopped working. She cannot have a bob each way. The public are aware of these kinds of comments. In fact Ms Rich made them in her own press releases on 28 June 2001 and 27 March 2003. She said very early in the piece that she did not want to be the poster girl for the paid parental leave campaign. Of course she did not want to be its poster girl; she was going to vote against it. She was always going to vote against it. She knows what she is doing. Katherine Rich is not indecisive. I give her credit for knowing where she stands even if I do not agree with the stance she takes. Ms Rich the soft face for the hard message voted against the Working for Families package and certainly voted against the Families Commission. 
 She voted against 4 weeks’ annual leave which will assist women and give them extra time off work to spend with their families. She voted against the Employment Relations Act which allows for more flexible and family-friendly workplaces. She voted against the Working for Families package which puts more money into the pockets of 300000 families. She has never spoken out against National’s market rents policy that destroyed families in the 1990s. As I said Ms Rich is not indecisive. She knows where she stands on these matters and makes it abundantly clear. 
Comments have been made this week that Mr Brash cannot handle females in his caucus who have an opinion. He cannot handle anybody in his caucus who has an opinion regardless of gender. Mr Brash is a bad manager. This should not come as any surprise. This is not a shock-horror probe headline-bursting statement. This is very evident and has been evident from the moment he was placed in the leadership position. If he cannot lead 27 people how will he lead the whole nation? It is very very obvious—Mr Brash may have skills but they are not leadership skills. Leadership skills are not in his personal list of attributes. 
One of the things that has also become very very evident is how much of a game of musical chairs is going on in the National caucus. One has to keep up with who is speaking on what these days. One area I am gravely concerned about is National’s complete lack of attention to arts and culture when arts and culture is providing huge economic growth and significant growth in employment in New Zealand. It is an area where we are being increasingly recognised internationally. National has no arts and culture spokesperson at the moment. It has no spokesperson on women’s affairs or on youth affairs either. 
Arts and culture is an area where New Zealand is very highly rated internationally and not to have a spokesperson for this area is appalling. In the past the responsibility has always gone to someone whom National has had to find a job for because he or she had been sacked from a previous job such as Georgina te Heuheu. Paul Hutchison had responsibility for the arts for a while. Katherine Rich had it for a while but then she moved on so now the situation remains vacant. That is a bit like the National caucus. 
National does not care about health. In fact Don Brash has made several alarming statements about health. I quote from Lynda Scott the former health spokesperson who was also moved aside. On 22 July of last year she said “Don”—Mr Brash—“has determined five priorities for National and health is not one of those.” National does not see health as something it can define itself clearly on so it will not speak on it at all other than to say things that are negative about the future health service provision in this country. It is no wonder that Lynda Scott is going away and I have to say that she is doing it in a dignified manner. 
Mr Brash has made statements like: “I’ve had private health insurance for a long time.” That sounds like: “I’m all right Jack shame about you.” He has also said that under National some people would get no treatment at all if they had not led a clean lifestyle. If they had overeaten for 2 years and required kidney dialysis then that was their fault. That shows us the caring face of the National leader! My electorate of Whanganui which I am very proud and privileged to represent is absolutely booming at the moment. When I use that word “booming” I am quoting directly from headlines in local newspapers. 
Our crime rate has reduced phenomenally in Whanganui overall but I want to acknowledge sympathetically the terrible crimes that occurred in our area during the holiday period. We all hope for a very early resolution of those cases. Our police in Whanganui are of the highest calibre and police numbers in the region are amongst the highest in the whole central police district. Health funding in Whanganui has increased dramatically as has health funding overall in New Zealand. There has been a 40 percent increase during the term of the Labour Government. The Whanganui District Health Board will receive an additional $4.2 million in 2005-6 which is over and above the additional $3.3 million that it received in 2004-5. The Government is certainly recognising the health needs of the people in Wanganui and the larger Whanganui electorate. 
Building is happening at an accelerated pace in Whanganui which is creating jobs. Our schools are well staffed with 25 extra secondary teachers joining staffrooms in the Whanganui electorate who are over and above those required for roll growth. These are exciting numbers. High-quality education will be delivered to the future leaders of this country because that is who our young people will be. Yesterday I attended the opening of the Patea Area School which was a very exciting event. All in all the economy and the situation in my electorate is fabulously exciting. This Government is working together with the people of New Zealand.