Mallard Trevor: General Debate 
Mallard Trevor: General Debate 
[Volume:634;Page:5638] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister for Economic Development) 
: 
 Well that was a half-hearted clap. And we noticed who was not clapping. Bill English was not clapping and John Key was not clapping. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I seek leave to table the parliamentary telephone directory. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Leave has been sought for that course to followed. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Dr Don Brash 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The Minister referred to the fact that Bill English and John Key were not in the House. He is not allowed to do that. Excuse me—an apology Mr Deputy Speaker. He referred to the fact that they were not clapping. He has no idea at all whether they were clapping because in fact he cannot see them. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: That point of order was nearly as good as the one we heard yesterday from the woman at the back whose name I have forgotten. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I seek leave to table a pile of papers I have here in front of me. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Do you want to identify them at all Mr Brownlee? 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Oh yes. There are a couple I have done some scribblings on there is a Chamber phone list here there is a series of names I have for New Zealand First: Lassie Spot Rover Fido Pluto and Goofy. I seek leave to table those. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: That is sufficient. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Point of order— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: We will just deal with this point of order. Does the member want to speak to the point of order? 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I will speak to the point of order. First of all he does not have any correspondence from New Zealand First at all. Therefore “Fatty” is lying is he not? 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: That is not a point of order. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: He is—table it! 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Speaking to the point of order— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: No no. I am on my feet Mr Deputy Speaker—one at a time. I am speaking to the point of order. Tell him to sit down; that is the rule. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: But it is not relevant Mr Peters. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: It is relevant Mr Deputy Speaker. He says that he wants to table a document. I do not believe he has it and I say he is misleading the House. He has no correspondence from New Zealand First at all. In short he is lying. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: No no. You should not use that word in this Chamber Mr Peters. In any case one would hope that Mr Brownlee has the papers. It is not really relevant whether he has or does not have them and it is not covered by the Standing Orders. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Speaking to the point of order— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Are you trying to be helpful Mr Mallard? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I think to help my ministerial colleague I should just point out that Mr Brownlee said he was going to table a list of names he was going to call New Zealand First or something similar rather than correspondence from it. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: This requires no further debate. I thought members were seeking elucidation of the nature of the papers. It is simply a case of seeking leave and members can object to it if they wish. Leave has been sought for those papers to be tabled. Is there any objection? There is. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I was trying to finish my point of order and the second part of my point of order was that the leader of the National Party got up objected to something that did not happen in respect of a reference to members being in the House—or not being present. Then he made it clear that members on his own side were not in the House—the very thing he had protested about—and in doing so he offended against the Standing Order. I ask you to bring him to order and tell him to apologise for that because making reference to people who are not in the House is not allowed. I know Dr Brash has been here for a short time Mr Deputy Speaker but the fact is that he should have learnt by now at least one Standing Order in the time he has been the leader—temporarily—of the National Party. He offended against a Standing Order and you heard him do it. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: There is a purpose for the Standing Order and the way in which Dr Brash referred to it did not contravene that purpose at all. We will move on. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. During the first and second points of order taken by Winston Peters he called me a liar. I am not. Mr Deputy Speaker you will recall that Mr Henare was thrown out of the House this afternoon for calling someone a liar so I think that Mr Peters should at least withdraw and apologise or remove himself from the House. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: No I dealt with that matter before. I explained to him that he may not use that language in the House and I left it at that. I think we have moved past that point— 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Mr Brownlee has taken specific exception to that. It is always the case in this House that when someone has been offended against—particularly in that particular way—and has taken offence to it then the person who has made the statement is required to withdraw and apologise. That has always been the practice and I expect it to be upheld now. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I am prepared to withdraw and apologise. I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. What you have just seen is the National Party being able to dish it out but not to take it. Mr Brownlee read out a list of canine names that he made up and he thinks that is OK but when somebody reacts to that the National members simply cannot take it. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: That is a matter of debate— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: He should be asked to apologise for that but we did not do that. We are not like the National Party— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Thank you for withdrawing and apologising. You are not raising a point of order. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I said I apologised and I expect them in the future to not behave in that way. That is what I was asking for. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I take the point that Mr Peters is making but I want to make it very clear to the House that despite his generous offer to withdraw I did not take offence at him referring to me as “Fatty”. That is something I am entirely responsible for. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: We will continue and we have not docked the time for the points of order. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Thank you. When I was a new back-bencher I had a 5-minute speech that lasted 37 minutes; I thought I was going to beat that record. I say to Dr Brash that he can run but unless he jumps in his coffin he cannot hide. I say to that member that everyone knows he is going although he is absolutely correct that we could not see Bill English and John Key— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: 49 percent! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: There goes Nick Smith saying “49 percent!” But we know that he is the member who cannot count. He is the one whom Bill English relied on to make sure that Don Brash would not win. 
But the point that we all know is that the National members are debating and plotting. How do we know that and how do we know that they have not reached a consensus? Bill English sent an email to  
Molesworth & Featherston 
 saying that there is certainly no consensus. National members had said the week before that there was a consensus and it was around John Key and Gerry Brownlee. Bill English was really offended by that and he sent an email to  
Molesworth & Featherston 
 that did not say there would be no leadership change—it did not say that at all—but said that there was no consensus on the replacement leader. 
I also want to know when Bill English will front up and own up to something else. When will he own up to being the person who said that John Key does not have the bottle for a leadership change? 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Not true. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: It is not true? He does not have the bottle says Nick Smith. Nick Smith agrees with Bill English that John Key does not have the bottle. I think that is an interesting situation. I am not sure whether or not John Key has the bottle. I am sure that among his supporters for a leadership change in the National Party—and I see Mr McCully swaggering into the House—there are a few people with a bit of bottle. I think Gerry Brownlee has the bottle; he has the bottle to give John Key a hand. But Bill English says that John Key does not have the bottle. I think that is probably true. John Key has led quite a protected life. Over recent years it has been relatively sweet. He has not been engaged in politics in the same way that some others have and he has not been hurled into the job in the way that Don Brash was. It would have happened already if that were to be the case. 
There is clearly no good organisation around John Key. I ask members opposite to please put John Key into the leadership. He is the one we want to be there and we want him there soon. We want John Key to be the leader of the National Party and we want him to be the leader soon because the sooner he becomes the leader of the National Party the better it will be. If he gets through the summer and through the lovely photos of the candidate from West Hollywood or wherever it is— 
Darren Hughes 
: Central Casting. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
:—Central Casting—then people will start to listen to him. What will they hear? They will hear someone who is empty. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: What about Gerry? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: No Gerry will be the deputy leader until they toss him out and put— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Gerry Brownlee will be the deputy leader until Judith Collins takes over. That is the deal that John Key is trying to arrange. He is trying to double-deal. He has said to Judith Collins that by the election the National Party has to have a woman deputy leader but he is saying to Gerry Brownlee— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: What’s this about? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well it is about balancing it up; it is about getting all the eggs into one basket. Gerry Brownlee’s votes are needed to get rid of Brash but then Gerry Brownlee will go. That is the deal because Judith Collins is on a promise from Don Brash. 
I want to know when Bill English will deny sending that email to  
Molesworth & Featherston 
.