Wong Pansy: General Debate 
Wong Pansy: General Debate 
[Volume:654;Page:2935] 
Hon PANSY WONG (Minister for Ethnic Affairs) 
: 
 The boy the Hon Darren Hughes tries to step into the shoes of the man the Hon Michael Cullen. I am afraid that pair of shoes is too big for the Hon Darren Hughes. First of all today we saw in the Chamber that the shadow Leader of the House is not allowed to take points of order on the Standing Orders. Guess who is trusted to do the job? It is the hard man the Hon Trevor Mallard. The Hon Michael Cullen gave up his seat in Dunedin and became a list MP in contrast to the boy Darren Hughes who was forced to give up his seat by our National senior whip Nathan Guy. Darren Hughes got defeated. Lastly the Hon Darren Hughes apparently is not good enough to go to the Business Committee in his capacity as the shadow Leader of the House. Once again the hard man Trevor Mallard— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I ignored large chunks of that speech—it was irrelevant—but to refer to the absence of a member from one of the most important committees Parliament has the Business Committee is out of order. I was at that meeting yesterday. You know that Mr Speaker; you chaired it. In fact I think you would be able to testify that I have never missed a meeting of that committee since you have been Speaker— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member has made his point sufficiently. This is the general debate but the member speaking should not refer to the absence of members either from this House or select committees. We will not get into the matter of whether people are present. 
Hon PANSY WONG 
: I am not referring to his absence. He is not even a member; that is the point. 
Yesterday the youthful leader of the Labour Opposition the Hon Phil Goff announced a reshuffle. Now the Labour front bench has become a political rest home where yesterday’s politicians go to see out their twilight years. It is very strange because every time there is a reshuffle it is meant to be fresh-faced younger members coming in but not for Labour. That is actually not surprising because their leader is the most youthful member of this House! He has been here since 1981. In fact he probably could be named the grandfather of the House. 
This Labour Opposition is fast becoming the washing machine of politics because its members are wishy-washy on almost every topic. Their leader the Hon Phil Goff seems to be stuck on the spin cycle. This youthful leader who claims to have revitalised his party cannot even keep in sync with his own caucus particularly his front-bench members. He seems to be at odds with every one of them. Let me demonstrate. He attacks the unitary Auckland council set-up but his fresh new local government spokesman the Hon George Hawkins sent out a press release to say what a good idea it was. He will work with the National Government to make it happen. Mr Goff attacks National’s education policy while the “rebel without a cause” Trevor Mallard says he wants to work with National where he can see good policy and there is plenty of good education policy from our very capable Minister the Hon Anne Tolley. 
Apparently the hard man the Hon Trevor Mallard has now returned to the front bench after 18 months in the so-called sin bin. He has been announced as Labour’s spokesman for the Rugby World Cup which is ironic because we all thought his career had been kicked into touch a long time ago. It just shows us that there is a recycled second life within the Labour Party when it runs out of options. He has also been given the shadow portfolio of education. Here I am. I can perhaps educate the Hon Trevor Mallard to keep the receipts of the anger management classes that he has been attending. I think he should keep the receipts to demand a refund because the classes are not working. After attending all those anger management classes they are not working. I say to Trevor Mallard to keep his receipts and get a refund. 
The Hon Clayton Cosgrove is another prime example of Labour’s wishy-washy attitude towards politics. That member failed to get tough. After 9 years of the Labour Government he failed to get tough on crime and law and order.