Samuels Dover: General Debate 
Samuels Dover: General Debate 
[Volume:624;Page:19483] 
Hon DOVER SAMUELS (Minister of State) 
: 
 I am usually quite enthusiastic when I stand to make a contribution in the House. I am usually inspired and look forward to a very intelligent and inspiring debate. Tonight I am sad irrespective of the wailings of the Opposition and the contributions made tonight. This is one of the first times in the long time I have been in this House that I am actually saddened to stand to make a contribution. I feel that I am looking at a tangi. I feel that there is a climate of death. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Rigor mortis! 
Hon DOVER SAMUELS 
: Rigor mortis is yet to set in. I feel saddened because there is a lot of custom associated with death. Sometimes it is celebrated as a wake and sometimes there is celebrating before the death. Tonight I am sad and do members know why? It is because I look across to the other side of the House and I see members who should be in the mortuary. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Get the body bags! 
Hon DOVER SAMUELS 
: I have listened to what they said and they are not on this planet. I look at Maurice Williamson who was once an honourable Minister—he is still an honourable member—and I know that behind all the speeches his colleagues have made he is actually thinking. One of the things he is thinking is: “Where are my friends? Have we got any friends?”. 
The National members used to have friends—they were actually appropriately named ACT party friends. When I get up in the morning and listen to Radio Pacific I hear that the best friend the National Party has ever had has jumped the waka and is teaming up with Rodney Hide. When we heard the Rt Hon Jonathan Hunt talking about the benefits of MMP one has to wonder how lonely can it be to have no friends in this House. Yet we have members of the Opposition talking away about my friend George Hawkins. 
Maurice Williamson knows very well that when he was Minister he was never accountable for the operations of Transit New Zealand or Transfund and the actions and the implementation of the practical aspect of his responsibilities. He knew the lines of demarcation between being a Minister and trying to get out there and fill the potholes with metal. He knows all about that. It is exactly the same with my friend George Hawkins. The responsibility for operational matters is known in this House and if there was ever a suggestion that a member of Parliament or a Minister should in some de facto way be a chief executive and responsible for operations this House would be in an uproar. Every member of this House knows that yet my colleague George Hawkins has been asked some of the most outrageous questions. They expect him to put on a uniform and do the beat. Come on! The Commissioner of Police has made his statement in terms of his responsibilities and some of the inadequacies in terms of the police performance but at least let us tell it straight. 
That is why I feel very sad tonight. As I look across the House I see people in a state of rigor mortis. As my friend said some of them should be in body bags and some of them should be defrosted but I am saddened because there are no friends there. There is nobody. When we come to the election this year members will need friends. If they do not have any friends then “Po Kare Kare Ana”—now is the hour. They should make up their minds. Will the National Party be friends—whanaungatanga kaitiakitanga—of the ACT party? Why do they not get together and have a hui—a bit of a korero? I see the face on Maurice Williamson and that tells the story.