Fairbrother Russell: General Debates 
Fairbrother Russell: General Debates 
[Volume:610;Page:7923] 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER (NZ Labour—Napier) 
: 
 The learned member who preceded me made the statement that if one stands for the wrong thing then one will certainly go. Anyone who reads the papers in Hawke’s Bay will realise that that member must have stood for the wrong thing at some stage. He has certainly gone from the pages of the Hawke’s Bay papers where he has been replaced by the “member for Courtenay Place”. We see the strength of our policy in Hawke’s Bay today when the papers write about the “member for Courtenay Place”. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I know one of my colleagues is speaking but I think that referring to the Hon Winston Peters in that way is not appropriate. He is the member for Tauranga or the leader of the New Zealand First Party. While that term may be common parlance amongst the police and other people who frequent the area in question it is not appropriate for it to be used in the House. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is a perfectly valid point of order. The member is the leader of New Zealand First. He should be referred to as Mr Peters or as the member for Tauranga. 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: I accept that and I thank you. I was referring to how the papers write about certain members. What is significant is that New Zealand First has no profile in Hawke’s Bay. 
When we visit the electors of Hawke’s Bay as we do regularly we find three issues emerge. Not one of those issues is about good leadership by the National Party or about any policy advanced by New Zealand First. Instead people in our district talk about health and they do so in terms of two tangents. The first is the deceit practised by the previous National Government during the 1990s which made promises to retain the hospital on the hill at Napier. Meanwhile the closure process was in train. That drew headlines. People in Napier recognise that the health system run under the Minister of Health Annette King is working. Every person one speaks to in Hawke’s Bay who has experience of the health services in Napier speaks loudly of the service he or she is receiving from Hawke’s Bay Regional Hospital and of the services being delivered at the ground level. Every person looks forward to the formation of the primary health organisation. 
The second issue that people talk about in Hawke’s Bay is education. People talk about it in glowing terms whether one goes to primary schools or secondary schools or to the doorstep of householders. Children are receiving education in their schools and are bringing home work that gives the adults in Napier great hope for the future. Children are receiving a rounded education. They are learning about tolerance about biculturalism and multiculturalism about how to train for jobs about how to broaden their minds and about how make worthwhile interjections that are intelligible. 
The third matter that we hear about is employment. In Hawke’s Bay unemployment is at a record low and employment is at a record high. In Hawke’s Bay if one wants a job one can find a job. We have portrayed the new initiative by this Government to help people into employment. But that initiative has been misportrayed by the press that is owned out of Hawke’s Bay which has stated that people living in rural areas will have to move to the city for jobs. That is absolutely incorrect. If one lives in a rural area where there is no work that is suitable in terms of a person’s background he or she is not required to uplift his or her family and move into a city. Someone who moves to a rural area to avoid employment is of course answerable for that. On the streets and in the households of Napier people are very positive about their employment prospects. 
That all adds up to a sound and stable economy. It is no wonder that in the TV3 poll of earlier this week 44 percent—over twice the next estimate—thought that the economy of this country would improve over the next 3 months. That is despite the doomsayers in this House and in the press who indicate that we are riding a lucky wave. When I speak to people on their doorsteps they tell me that they know this economy is well managed. They know that this country is well managed. They identify as a good leader someone who is a capable leader and 83 percent of the people who responded to the TV3 poll described our Prime Minister as a capable leader. They want a leader who is down-to-earth and 74 percent of the people who responded to the TV3 poll saw our leader as being that.