Wilkinson Kate: General Debate 
Wilkinson Kate: General Debate 
[Volume:632;Page:3786] 
KATE WILKINSON (National) 
: 
 We have a Government that thinks inserting a microchip into the neck of a dog will stop the dog from attacking. Obviously Government members are hopeful that if they insert microchips into the necks of some of their Ministers and caucus members it may re-inspire them reinvigorate them—or even just retire them. We have so-called rising stars mutating before our eyes into falling meteors. We have Ministers—and this is amazing—who do not know their left from their right their assets from their liabilities. A Minister who is aspiring to be the Minister of Finance says— 
Lindsay Tisch 
: Who’s that? 
KATE WILKINSON 
: I cannot remember his name! He is a Minister with such financial acumen that he says: “you’ve gotta remember with the SOEs that going bust doesn’t quite mean what it might mean for some other companies you know for example if Meridian went bust you’d still have a lot of windmills and a lot of dams so it’s a financial rather than putting all the assets at risk”. And he aspires to be the Minister of Finance! Yet he admits: “I take responsibility for the incorrect advice and the Prime Minister has made her displeasure clear to me.” I have to say that I do not much rate his chances of being the Minister of Finance. 
Sadly and tragically we have a Prime Minister who thinks that the disaster in South Canterbury is great. She said: “I am pleased to see the snow. I love skiing so it is good to see that they are getting off to a great start with the ski season.” But some people in South Canterbury still do not have power. To this day 800 connections in Ashburton have yet to be reinstated and there are 700 such connections in South Canterbury. A total of 1500 hard-working self-reliant courageous contributors to our economy still do not have power and the Prime Minister just wants to go skiing. 
Furthermore we have a Minister of Civil Defence who does not even know that water pumps need power—no power no water. Those people in South Canterbury who are suffering enough by being ignored by the current Government do not even have the power to draw water. They also need cellphones. They use cellphones. They are reliant on cellphones—if they can get coverage. But our Minister of Civil Defence does not realise that those phones use batteries and that those batteries need charging. In order to charge those batteries power is needed and we still have 1500 suffering souls in South Canterbury and Ashburton who still do not have power. That is a civil defence disaster. It does not require a telephone call to the BBC to confirm that it is a civil defence disaster; we know it is a disaster and we know something should be done about it. 
Curiously we also have a Minister who thinks that the laws we make here in this very House are there for guidance—that they are not compulsory they are not binding. They are just a guideline for some of us in order to decide whether to obey. I find it amazing that we have a Minister in this House who believes that the laws of our land are for guidance only. 
We have a Minister of Finance who is most intent on looking backwards. We can understand that because he is watching his own back. But he has forgotten to look forward to what is best for New Zealand and what it is that New Zealanders actually want. They want to know that after 7 long years of this Government it is time for the Government to stop blaming others for its own inactivity. Seven long years is enough time in which to have made some improvement to our electricity system so that the breakdown of one cable does not plunge all of Auckland into darkness. New Zealanders do not want excuses; they want results. 
New Zealanders also want to know that good laws will be made here in this Parliament—not stupid dopey laws like the one that presumes microchipping a dog will stop a dog attack. Microchipping a dangerous dog will not turn it into a harmless dog and neither will microchipping irresponsible owners turn them into responsible owners. When Treasury thinks that a law is stupid when local authorities think it is stupid when most New Zealanders think it is stupid then chances are it really is stupid. If it looks like a dog and barks like a dog then it must be a dog and I have to say that this microchipping law to excuse the pun is certainly a dog of a law. We need only one vote to put a stop to that law—one vote whether from New Zealand First United Future or the Minister.