Bridges Simon: General Debate 
Bridges Simon: General Debate 
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SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 It is good to follow the previous speaker the Hon Clayton Cosgrove who clearly has been to the “Trevor Mallard School of Anger Management”. It is very good indeed. I want to say how good it is— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I need to ask an unusual question and I would be indebted if you would provide the answer. Is it possible to ask a member to send his  
Hansard 
 to Julie Baker given he belittled her in that way? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is not a point of order. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: How good is it to be part of a National Government that— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: The member has the Gerry Brownlee collar attached. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: I do; I am missing the wing-collar I am sorry. I tried to find some at lunchtime and could not. 
I wanted to say how good it is to be part of the National Government which is incredibly popular. It has a fantastic Prime Minister in John Key a great Deputy Prime Minister in Bill English and from tomorrow at 4 p.m. it will have a wonderful Acting Prime Minister from Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty—the Hon Tony Ryall. He is a safe pair of hands and I say to Mr Darren Hughes could he be the best-dressed Acting Prime Minister we have ever had. It is just possible. 
Of course in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty we do have some safe pairs of hands and we are lucky to have popular members of Parliament who are incredibly liked by the people. So things are going well for National in the provinces but how many seats did Labour get at the last election between the area of Auckland and Wellington? Could we hazard a guess? Labour won one seat. It won Palmerston North by the thinnest of majorities and because of that Labour members put down their lattes—in the case of Chris Hipkins I think it was a Pepsi Max or something; he likes his Pepsi Max—and went out into the provinces. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: A fluffy! 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: That is a good point; he had a fluffy. His mum paid. Actually it was free because she bought a coffee and a slice of cake—it was ginger crunch I hear. 
Labour members put down their lattes and their Pepsi Max and they went out into the provinces because as we know they hold one seat in the provinces. Annette King commented on the ginger crunch and they went to Wanganui and New Plymouth. I want to know why they did not come to Tauranga. We would have loved to have them in Tauranga. You see by my count at election time I had a majority of something like 11700 and I reckon the bus tour will make it 12700. So I ask Labour members to please come to Tauranga. It will be the impetus I need. It would remind the good people of the provinces just what they were voting against. Perhaps they did not realise at that time but they will this time. 
The people of Wanganui said they thought Pete Hodgson had gone. They thought they had got rid of him. People also thought they had got rid of Trevor Mallard but those members are still here. People have been asking what those members are doing still here. So I am very confident that the bus tour if it continues will remind people of just what they left behind. Of course there will be some good things about the bus tour. It will mean that the Labour Party members will not have to meet in a phone box. That was Darren Hughes and his uncle in the phone box but they have the bus now. 
National by way of distinction has the health reviews and we have just put out an excellent and comprehensive transport discussion document. But there is something that the transport document should have had but did not have and I will take up this point with Steven Joyce. It is quite clear that he should have made the practice of singing in buses illegal. I do not know why that was not on the list. Singing in buses should have been made illegal. What were those Labour members singing? They were singing: “Take me home to the place I belong.” Well it is quite clear that they do not belong in the provinces. It is quite clear they do not belong in Wanganui or New Plymouth and it is certainly clear that they do not belong in Tauranga. 
As I said it is good to be in the National Party. It is good to be in a party that is popular a party that people like and a party that was voted for by people in the provinces. They voted for us and will continue to vote for us and from Thursday at 4 p.m. the party will be in the safe hands of Tony Ryall. Labour members’ bus-singing is interesting because they could have sung other songs. “Slip Sliding Away” would have been a good one as the words include: “Slip out the back Jack; make a new plan Stan”.