Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
[Volume:642;Page:12009] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) 
: 
 What does a Government do when the tide starts to run out as badly as it is on this current Government? Well if we listen to what Lianne Dalziel tells us today we discover that it simply goes back and starts fighting the battles of the past. 
We know that the Prime Minister is out there telling New Zealanders that Labour is on the come-back and that it will all happen because there is going to be a Cabinet reshuffle. There will be some magical stuff around climate change and apparently—in an age when it has never been harder for young New Zealanders to buy a house—housing affordability will be one of the Government’s things as well. Have we heard about any of that today? No. Government members have gone back over the old battlegrounds of the past the nice safe comfortable stuff that makes them feel comfortable and makes them feel good but frankly leaves New Zealanders sad and disappointed. 
This is a Government going nowhere. One has only to look at the Order Paper currently before the House. The Order Paper is the agenda that Parliament has to deal with and this agenda the Order Paper is set by the Government. It outlines the Government’s programme—the so-called cutting edge of Government policy. Well what is on the Order Paper today? There are only 18 bills on the Order Paper. Some of them have been there since 1998. Six of them cannot advance because the Government cannot get the numbers through the coalition. That leaves 12 bills on the Order Paper and do members know what? Only one of those bills has any heavy politics in it and is causing any reasonable debate in the House. The rest of it is just sort of common-sense stuff that Governments do as a matter of routine. No programme is evident in that Order Paper. Why is that? Well it is because every Minister over on the other side of the House has hunkered down in his or her office wondering whether he or she is about to get the chop. 
In this environment it is fascinating is it not that we are hearing the names that were mentioned by my colleague Bill English our deputy leader. Steve Chadwick apparently is one of the great hopes for the future. Maryan Street apparently is one of the great hopes for the future. Shane Jones apparently is one of the great hopes for the future. The problem with that of course is that two of those are on the list and the other is going to lose her seat. So there is no future for the Labour Party in those hopes. 
It must give Helen Clark an enormous amount of difficulty when she looks at the list and says: “I’ve got to make sure that when we come back after the election we are pretty tidy and we have a few people who can shore us up that we can be a pretty effective Opposition and that we have some guys who are well road-tested and well run.” She might look at people like Mark Gosche. We know that he has been a good Minister in the past but he does not have the interest to do that at the moment. She might look at George Hawkins but then of course others have looked at him and decided that he is on his way anyway. So she might look at Tim Barnett but we know that Tim Barnett is another man under siege in his seat so that choice is not possible. Then there is “Swainy”—good old Paul Swain the only smart one—but he has decided to get off the bus before it actually does have the road crash. 
So who does that leave Helen Clark with? Well in a safe seat for the Labour Party we have Martin Gallagher. Now there would be a great opportunity for a man. Why is he not being promoted as being part of the great future of the Labour Party? One certain thing is that he will be back. Another person who might get a bit of a look-in is Lynne Pillay who is sitting out there in a seat that means she will be back. [ 
Interruption 
] Oh no—sorry. Steve Chadwick just said no. Lynne Pillay is dog-tucker; National has that one in the bag. I am happy to be wrong about that. 
Then there is indisputably a gentleman who is coming back to this House—Mr Ross Valentine Robertson. So why is he not up for Cabinet promotion? After the election he will be back. Then of course there is that much much maligned current Minister outside Cabinet whose talents have not been properly recognised but who sits in a seat that Labour hopes to hold. That of course is the Hon Judith Tizard. I predict that she will be on her way into Cabinet because she will be back here after the election. I would mention Harry Duynhoven but we think there is a wee problem there. We do not want to say too much but we think there is a wee problem there. Then of course there is the Hon Winnie Laban who holds the Mana seat. Much as we might get close to taking that seat I suspect she may be back as well. So there it is—Labour’s future.