English Bill: General Debate 
English Bill: General Debate 
[Volume:642;Page:12007] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. The phones are running hot amongst the backbench of the Labour Party. Those members want to know answers to serious questions such as why Maryan Street’s name is now appearing in the newspaper ahead of Shane Jones’ name. The latest theory is that it is because the Prime Minister’s office is pushing Maryan Street and not pushing Shane Jones. 
But Steve Chadwick is pushing herself in the Rotorua  
Daily Post 
. Now she is someone who missed out on Cabinet after the last election because she had almost lost her Rotorua seat. Now she is to go into Cabinet because she is certainly going to lose the Rotorua seat at the next election. What does she have to say in the Rotorua  
Daily Post? 
 “Speculation Rotorua MP Steve Chadwick will be promoted in the next Cabinet reshuffle is news to her.” That was in yesterday’s Rotorua newspaper—news to her. So she is not worrying about the media here; she is going around the back and promoting herself. Actually she has given a detailed CV—she was clearly caught on the hop! It lists her strengths in great detail and then of course states that she wants the Prime Minister’s favourite portfolio of the arts. Now that was smart; that was really smart! 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: What about Judith Tizard? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Well it is Judith Tizard’s job I presume except that Judith Tizard does not do the job so getting it will not mean any effort is required at all. 
All those things are symptoms of the Government’s new strategy which is this: it needs to save the generals so it will sack the corporals. That is what the Government is doing—it needs to save the generals so it will sack the corporals. Let us take Mark Burton for instance— 
Simon Power 
: Someone’s taken him! 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Oh someone has taken him because he has not been here for 2 days. I will not speculate about where he has been taken but it will be painful and he is not coming back. I think that is the answer. But is it his fault? The Electoral Finance Bill which has killed his ministerial career is not the bill that Mark Burton put up. The bill we have is the one Helen Clark wanted: the one that means public money can be spent at will without limit on campaigning all election year and no one else is allowed to spend money. The bill actually states that political opinion is banned except under particular circumstances such as registering with the Government before one can criticise it. I do not believe that Mark Burton thought of that. Helen Clark thought of that. She is the one who told New Zealand First and the Greens they must lock in behind the bill and jam it through before Christmas so that we can have the most restrictive campaign finance rules in the Western World where for one-third of the whole time the Government is in office its critics will not be able to criticise it—one-third of the whole time it is in office. But Mark Burton is going to get it in the neck and that is his fault apparently. 
Is it Rick Barker’s fault that his constituents are sick of Dr Cullen promising tax cuts and then taking them away? No Rick Barker believed the promise that Michael Cullen made in the 2005 Budget: that Michael Cullen would lift the thresholds in order to reduce the tax burden on middle New Zealand. Then Rick Barker made another mistake. He believed that promise when Dr Cullen repeated it in the 2006 Budget. Now it is no wonder he is to be sacked. Then Rick Barker found out too late the promise was never meant to be delivered on because in the 2007 Budget Dr Cullen said he would not do it. The effect of that is that someone on $39000 a year in New Zealand now pays the same marginal tax rates as millionaires did back in the 1980s and 1990s. Someone on $39000 a year pays at the rate of 33c in the dollar. That is the rate that Doug Myers and the Prime Minister of New Zealand used to pay as their top rate. Rick Barker has found out that Dr Cullen thinks that earners on $39000 a year in Hastings are rich and Rick Barker is going to be sacked when it should be Dr Cullen who is sacked.