Hodgson Pete: General Debate 
Hodgson Pete: General Debate 
[Volume:634;Page:6090] 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) 
: 
 We are off to the Labour Party conference on Friday to celebrate our 90th year since formation. We do so united we do so proud of our achievements to date and we do so in no doubt of who our leader is and what our policy programme is. We are proud of our progress towards economic transformation of the thickening and broadening of our economy of the release of entrepreneurial spirit of the greater attention paid to research science and technology and of the blossoming of both traditional and new industries. We are proud of our focus on families—young and old—through Working for Families and of year-on-year progress in health and education services. We have the second-lowest unemployment rate in the world— 
Hon Member 
: Not bad! 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
:—not bad—and the highest level of participation in our workforce in our history. I can say about people who are vulnerable in this country that every day 50 people come off the benefit list in New Zealand and go to work. They have been doing that—at a rate of 50 a day—every day of the week every week of the year for 7 years. National put them on the list; we are getting them off it. 
We are proud of our focus on national identity of our arts and cultural renaissance of our sporting prowess of our new film industry and of our status in foreign affairs. We are proud that we did not go into Iraq and we are proud that we have no nuclear weapons or nuclear-powered ships. So we are heading off to the conference knowing who we are having a very clear idea of what we stand for and knowing that we have both high-quality and stable leadership. 
What a contrast! The National Party has no policy after 7 years. It has no direction no idea of what it wants—except naked power for the sake of having power—and no more unity than a herd of cats. National members are approaching the season when the National Party has coups. In November 1997 Mrs Shipley rolled Mr Bolger. In October 2001 Mr English rolled Mrs Shipley. In October 2003 Dr Brash rolled Mr English. The October November season of 2006 is now upon us. They really are uncertain what to do. 
Hon Member 
: Don’t do it! 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: That is probably good advice. In fact the discomfort is palpable: senior members of the party wander around strange parts of the building late at night; Mr Key cancelled his 3-week trip to the US; and there is bad blood everywhere. 
 National last week spent a strong vitriolic week saying that the Labour Party was corrupt saying that other parties in this House were corrupt and opposing validating legislation. National members said they knew very clearly the difference between ordinary parliamentary business and electioneering so how does Eric Roy explain these pictures? Eric Roy—the buddy of Bill English who has just resumed his seat—finds himself on one of these buses. These are actually two pictures of the same bus; the same number plate is on it. These are photographs taken at two different times. One of them on the left is a photograph of Wayne Harpur the Labour candidate for Invercargill in the last election and that advertisement was paid for by the New Zealand Labour Party. Over here this advertisement of the bus with Eric Roy on it with the National Party logo on it and with advice that states: “Eric Roy is working for you” on it was photographed last week—the same week that Eric Roy and his mates were voting against legislation that would have validated precisely this sort of expenditure. This advertisement was paid for by the New Zealand taxpayer; this was not paid for by the New Zealand National Party. 
National members spent all of last week saying that stuff of this ilk was wrong and that they opposed legislation validating it retrospectively. Now this week I get to out Bill English’s Southland mate. I want to know how much more of that is going on. How much more “Miss February” are we going to get from Dr Lockwood Smith? How much more “Miss June” are we going to get from Gerry Brownlee? How much more of this are we going to get from the National Party now that legislation has passed saying that this stuff is OK even though the National Party spent all of last week opposing it?