Power Simon: General Debate 
Power Simon: General Debate 
[Volume:647;Page:16153] 
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 That speech was made by the Hon Clayton Cosgrove. He used to be good. 
Phil Goff the man who is about to take over the Labour Party was selected for the Labour Party when Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States. It is hard to believe that this man is the future of the Labour Party. One thing I have noticed today and over recent days is that Labour seems to have decided it is in trouble. National knows that there is a long way to go but Labour seems to have decided it is in trouble. Phil Goff is a politician of some 25 years’ experience—I am just wondering when the gravitas will kick in—yet he went on nationwide television and essentially said that he was in the race. The problem is that somebody forgot to tell Helen Clark that there was a race. 
Of course David Cunliffe sees himself as being well and truly at the centre of that race. On this side of the House we are reliably informed that David Cunliffe’s internal popularity will in the end drive him over the threshold for the deputy leadership; that the high personal regard his colleagues have for him and the way in which he has modestly and humbly conducted himself in caucus over the last 9 years will ultimately see him pushed into the deputy leader’s spot! 
We know that the other MPs in the Labour Party—the smart ones—are quietly smiling to themselves and they fit into two categories. One is the category of Jill Pettis Paul Swain and Steve Maharey. They are quietly smiling to themselves. Mark Burton should have been in that category but he forgot. 
At the same time there is another category of MPs who are also smiling and it is the category that I think is most interesting. It is the Ross Robertson George Hawkins category. It is the category that beat the internal Labour Party machine that was determined to get rid of them. Alongside Phil Goff they are the young youthful faces of Labour taking that party forward into the next century. They are the men who outwitted the internal Labour Party machine and survived the purge. Other talented members like Ross Robertson—well-known to you Mr Assistant Speaker—are George Hawkins and Harry Duynhoven. They are the survivors; the people who will get through the next short while. 
I have to say that having David Cunliffe driving around BP stations filling the gas bottles for Phil Goff is not going to help. Having Clayton Cosgrove wandering off to The Mad Butcher to collect the sausages and steaks is also not going to help. In the meanwhile George Hawkins Ross Robertson and Harry Duynhoven sit quietly smiling to themselves—on the weekends joining Phil Goff in his caravan—waiting waiting waiting for their opportunity to take over the reins of the Labour Party. 
Why is it though that after 25 years in Parliament the Hon Phil Goff still shows that sort of boyish vein-popping enthusiasm in his presentations in this House? What happened to the sort of statesmanlike gradual gravitas that one would expect from someone of that many years in politics? The Labour Party knows that this issue will not go away nor will the issue with Toll Holdings the immigration scandals or the fact that the emissions trading scheme is in a shambles violent crime is skyrocketing the real estate reforms have stalled the Financial Advisers Bill has stalled and the Electoral Finance Act is in a shambles. Indeed Labour’s own members have been pinged for infringing it. Well it seems that Phil Goff has all the answers. 
The curious thing about all of this is that the Labour Party itself has decided it is in trouble and we know that no one fights internally like the Labour Party does when the pressure comes on. We know that there is more to come and that even David Cunliffe’s immense popularity within his own caucus will not save Labour members from tearing each other’s throats out. He may well stand next week in the caucus room and give a Martin Luther King - type speech to the caucus about how they have to hold together in these times of trial and tribulation. The problem is that people have stopped listening to him. 
But National knows that Clayton Cosgrove is doing the numbers for David Cunliffe. We know that the two of them are closely in alliance and beavering away for the next generation of Labour leaders to come forth. The corridors are awash with rumours about how close those two are and their plans for the future. They have given up themselves.