Collins Judith: General Debate 
Collins Judith: General Debate 
[Volume:634;Page:5651] 
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
: 
 I have been listening to the debate this afternoon—all of it—and people would have been wondering what was happening in this House. Today we saw a competition between Mr Steve Maharey and Mr Mallard for the biggest amount of sleaze and dirt that they could throw at the National Party and its leader. Well so much for good behaviour in the House! What we saw was a disgrace. 
I have a thought for members today and it is this: “My signature is on it I am accountable for it and Labour in Government will be held to it by me.” Who said that? 
Hon Member 
: Helen Clark. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: This little red pledge card—“My commitment to you.”—with a picture of some woman on it who I understand is supposed to be Helen Clark is what all of that behaviour today was about. It is because this Labour Government needs to pay back some money—that is what it is all about. 
This afternoon we heard from Mr Peter Dunne who put out a press release apologising to the Auditor-General for the very personal remarks he made. I say good on Mr Peter Dunne for doing that and for admitting he had made a mistake because people do make mistakes. Now we have a situation where this Labour Government is facing oblivion. The National Party has paid back the money it should not have spent. The Greens have said that they will pay it back—they are going to tithe or something but whatever it is they will pay it back. United Future has now said it will pay the money back. The Maori Party has paid its money back. The Progressives did not misuse any money at all so good for them. And who is not paying it back? 
John Hayes 
: Labour. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: The Labour Party will not pay it back. It has engaged in weeks and weeks of muckraking of filth of getting all the information it thought it had got out of people’s rubbish bins during the election campaign—the sort of behaviour we saw brought up again today in the House. Labour does not seem to understand that it is digging itself further and further into a hole because the people of New Zealand actually do not like that behaviour. They do not want it; they want a fair deal. They know that if they misuse someone else’s money not only do they have to pay it back but they get charged with it. In this situation the police were called in by the Chief Electoral Officer. But suddenly somehow the police did not want to prosecute it. 
David Bennett 
: It’s called communism. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: Well I say to Mr Bennett that I do not know what it is called but it is certainly not something most people in New Zealand would find applied to them. 
But if we want more detail we can just look at this little card because it tells us with taxpayer money that for more information we can go to www.labour.org.nz or write freepost Helen Clark Parliament Buildings Wellington. That is what it tells us on the little red card that was paid for by the taxpayers of New Zealand. I suggest that the taxpayers of New Zealand do exactly that and write freepost Helen Clark Parliament Buildings Wellington with one message: “Pay it back now!”. 
Every single one of us knows there is fraud in the benefit numbers there is fraud amongst beneficiaries there are liable parents who are not paying their bills—we know all of that. And what do we expect from those people? We expect them to pay the money back. Those people do not have the sorts of resources that highly paid people in Cabinet have; they also do not have the many advisers to tell them not to nick the money. Yet what did Labour do? It took the money. Labour was warned that it was over budget and it was warned not to use the money but it still went ahead and did so—that is its behaviour. 
 In 2004—2 years ago—I wrote to the Auditor-General about another of Helen Clark’s schemes. That one concerned a calendar paid for with taxpayers’ money that was sent to health professionals that talked about the many wonderful things of past Labour Governments from the day they were first invented. I wrote to the Auditor-General saying that was a misuse of parliamentary money. The Auditor-General said that yes I was right. After that I wrote to the Speaker of the House pointing out the misuse of taxpayers’ money and suggesting the party should pay it back. But the Speaker replied that it was up to the member involved. That person was Helen Clark. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.