King Annette: General Debate 
King Annette: General Debate 
[Volume:656;Page:5246] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 Unfortunately the member who has just resumed his seat has no credibility at all. He is a former doctor who blew cigar smoke over a woman then threatened her and her boyfriend and the health community laughed at him having any role in health at all. “I’ve got my eye on you.”—remember that statement? Remember the politician who strutted the political stage for over a decade— 
Paul Quinn 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am a bit confused. “My eye on you” is— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: The point of order is well made. I am warning the member to desist. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Do members remember the politician who used to strut the political stage over a decade ago in New Zealand intimidating bullying and badgering anyone who dared to confront to debate with to cross or to question him? It did not matter whether that person was the President of the United States of America a pensioner at a public meeting a journalist a cartoonist or a colleague. That person was Sir Robert Muldoon. He was the National Prime Minister from 1975 to 1984. He was a man who used the power of political office as a political— 
Paul Quinn 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance as to whether it is very parliamentary to speak about an honourable member who is now dead and to be casting aspersions over his grave. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: It is in order but it is not in order to keep raising points of order to break up a member’s speech. I ask the member to consider that. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I have made two attempts to start my speech and twice that member has broken it up. I seek your indulgence to start again. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: No the member will continue. The points of order have been quite brief. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Robert Muldoon was the original political clobbering machine. He was a man who had no hesitation in clobbering anybody who opposed him. In the beginning political commentators used to praise his gutsy style. They praised his unconventional National Party approach to politics. They praised his rough around the edges way of operating and his take no prisoners debate style. He even developed Rob’s mob who followed every insult that he uttered. He could charm he could joke and he could reduce grown men to tears. 
My colleague Shane Jones was right when he said that Muldoon’s mokopuna are alive and well in this House today and No. 1 of those mokopuna is Paula Bennett the Minister for Social Development and Employment. Commentators out there have been praising her gutsy style; they like her rough and tumble westie approach to politics. She can charm she can joke and she certainly can laugh as Grey Power found out when they had a very unsuccessful visit to her office. Now we know that she can insult attack and belittle the very people who look to her for protection. 
What we have now is no longer a nanny State as the National Party liked to say right up to the election but a Big Brother State. We learnt in this House today that Paula Bennett accessed information about sole parents from within the computer system that is situated in her office the Ministry of Social Development computer system. It was unauthorised by the chief executive of the Ministry of Social Development. Peter Hughes had no knowledge that she had accessed that information. Paula Bennett owned up to it today. She got a staff member to take that information off the computer system with no knowledge by the chief executive and then she released it to the media. Peter Hughes found out about it after it had gone into the media and the Minister owned up to that today. That is the sort of Big Brother bullying behaviour we have going on. 
It was unheard of that a Minister would use a computer system in her office—the Ministry of Social Development’s Social Welfare Information for Tomorrow Today system—to go in and troll through the information on beneficiaries so she could start another round of beneficiary bashing. We have from that National Government a new round of benefit bashing that we have not seen in New Zealand for a long time. I say shame on National members. How could any woman on those benches support the bashing of those beneficiary women because they had the temerity and the audacity to put their hand up and say “We do not particularly like this policy.”? We now know what sort of Government we have—it is the Big Brother Government.