Ryall Tony: General Debates 
Ryall Tony: General Debates 
[Volume:611;Page:8349] 
Hon TONY RYALL (NZ National—Bay of Plenty) 
: 
 The member for Bay of Plenty wants to draw the House’s attention this afternoon to the performance of our Prime Minister. I want to say this: the halo is slipping. The arrogance of the Prime Minister will bring her down. She made this comment: “I sometimes wonder whether I’m a victim of my own success as a competent and popular Prime Minister.” Never have more arrogant words been spoken by the Prime Minister who has spent the last month hiding behind Dr Cullen’s coat. Dr Cullen is now freely referred to as the Acting Prime Minister even when the Prime Minister is in the country. 
Mr John Armstrong—hardly a friend of the Opposition—made this comment: “Corngate Mark II will have one consequence: erosion of trust in the Prime Minister.” He went on to talk about the fact that the memo from Ruth Wilkie was kept although Helen Clark promised full disclosure of all relevant documents. He said it was damaging because it centred on the Prime Minister’s trust. 
The fact is that this Prime Minister is a Prime Minister who plays the blame game. Everything is everybody else’s fault. She blames “corngate” on the Greens. She has no recollection of “paintergate” and blames the  
Sunday Star-Times.  
Do members remember the “ancestral landscapes”? She said she did not sign the Cabinet paper but she did and when she was found out she blamed her staff for not getting all the files. 
What about her anti-American comments during the Iraq war? She said she did not say them but when she was found out she blamed the media for goading her into saying them. What about the OECD growth targets? She said she had no recollection that the Government had had that policy and when Bill English provided the paper she signed she said she had no recollection of signing it and blamed her officials for putting that sort of piece of paper in front of her. 
What about the Gregory Fortuin mediation with the Alliance? Do members remember that? She had no recollection of it whatsoever but it was all checked with people in her office and she blamed her staff for not telling her. What about the Historic Places Trust payout? The Prime Minister denied it and said there had been no payout and when it was revealed that there had been a payout who was to blame? It was the staff—for not telling her what was going on. 
But here is the best one of all. Do members remember the Prime Minister campaigning before the 1999 election on State housing and saying that New Zealanders should welcome disadvantaged people having “halfway homes” in their own areas? The Prime Minister said we should welcome disadvantaged people into our communities. Then we realised that there was a letter to the Auckland City Council on official letterhead signed by Helen Clark saying: “We don’t want this halfway house in our neighbourhood because it is going to destroy the 18th century Edwardian values”—as though we could have 18th century Edwardian values—“of our neighbourhood.” Who was to blame? It was the staff—they used the wrong letterhead. The fact is that time and time again this Prime Minister blames everyone else. 
Why is she not going to Gisborne for the “hui-hopping” on the beaches issue? Micky Savage would have fronted on those marae. Peter Fraser would have fronted up on marae to talk about that issue. Norman Kirk would have had the guts to front up on marae to talk about the seabed and foreshore issue. David Lange the man she discarded would have had the guts to stand up on the marae and defend the Government’s position. Mike Moore would have had the courage to go to the marae to stand up for the Government. But where is Helen Clark? Nowhere!