Address in Reply 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Address in Reply 
[Sitting date: 09 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:266. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Address in Reply 
Debate resumed from 8 February. 
COLIN KING (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 Mr Speaker may I begin my contribution to the Address in Reply by congratulating you on your reappointment to the role of Speaker and may I also take the opportunity to congratulate the other presiding officers.  
Effectively at the election there were two propositions that voters could vote on. National’s proposition was to return the Crown accounts to surplus by 2014; to ensure that the Government developed good quality public services and to cap the size of those public services; to do its utmost in rebuilding our second-largest city Christchurch City after those severe earthquakes; and to make available to the public a minority shareholding of four State-owned enterprises—Mighty River Power Genesis Meridian Energy and Solid Energy—and also to reduce the Government’s shareholding in Air New Zealand.  
Labour’s proposition was to introduce a capital gains tax of 15 percent raise the top tax rate and borrow more money from overseas banks and—yes—pay the in-work tax credit to those not working. The Greens were very similar. They were going to introduce a capital gains tax at the marginal tax rate which would have been in the 20-plus percent range as we see it. As a result it is plain to see that the voters of New Zealand supported National giving it 47.3 percent of the party vote and returning 59 members of Parliament. Together with a solid support from the ACT Party and United Future National under the leadership of John Key has formed the Government—an outstanding result in anyone’s definition. In fact it is the best percentage party vote ever in the environment of MMP.  
One could ask the question: “Why was that?”. The answer is simple. It is because the policies National canvassed with the public during the election made sense to the public. The policies that National canvassed with the public during the election made sense with the public. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. Could I just say to members that it is a longstanding convention in this House that members should not conduct conversations unless it is necessary to do so and then only so as not to disrupt proceedings. They should show some courtesy to the member who is trying to address the business of the House. 
COLIN KING 
: At the conclusion of 2011 the Governor-General gave the Speech from the Throne which articulated that work programme of the National-led Government for the next 3 years. As expected it was based on those four aims: return the Crown accounts to surplus by 2014-15 deliver high-quality public services rebuild Christchurch and offer the public those minority shareholdings of the four State-owned enterprises as well as reducing the Government’s shareholding in Air New Zealand. The largest-ever percentage of New Zealanders voted in favour of those policies.  
In the electorate of Kaikoura we achieved also that best-ever share of the party vote and I would like to make the point again of asking the question why. Well it is very simple. It is because under a National-led Government in Marlborough one gets to keep more of what one earns. In Marlborough Kaikoura and North Canterbury if we send more money to Wellington we never see it again. This means less investment less growth and no jobs for our youth.  
National is determined to address those difficult issues and in Marlborough we are putting together a strategy that has the dual aims of removing the roadblocks to economic growth and creating enduring job prospects for our youth. At this moment we have King Salmon going through the Environmental Protection Authority process. It has done the science it understands what needs to be done to have a successful operation in aquaculture and we look forward to it coming through the Environmental Protection Authority process whatever the outcome is. If it is successful that represents 200 jobs in Marlborough.  
In terms of infrastructure and energy TrustPower has a project in Marlborough already consented but still not yet started. That again represents another 100 jobs in Marlborough. In aviation we have Safe Air in Marlborough; we also have the C130 programme. That too potentially can contribute another 50 jobs into the future. From those three opportunities that present themselves there is also the enlargement of the contribution of the manufacturing services—another 50 jobs. Forestry needs to double its ability to process forestry and timber; that represents another 50 jobs. And with the ongoing upskilling of our workforce in Marlborough the NMIT—the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology—also can build another 20 jobs. So if we can progress the agenda of this Government my electorate looks to gain 500 jobs and that is what we need to really ensure that there is a place and a career in this country for our young folks.  
To those who are objectors to economic growth I would say: “Show me your alternatives.” Show me your alternatives for youth employment your vision for Marlborough and for that matter your vision for New Zealand. Too many people for too long in this country have limited the potential of the provinces and rural New Zealand and that is why since 2004 this country’s tradable sector has shrunk dramatically. Labour’s dislike of the rural sector is well known and its regular attacks on the rural sector before and during the election were obvious for all to see. Is it any wonder that when one looks at a map today after the 2011 election it is entirely blue with regard to provincial rural New Zealand in the party vote situation? Why? Because National is committed to the economy. It is not a tax borrow and spend Government.  
In this term the National-led Government will continue its agenda to address those issues that New Zealanders care about. I will make that point again. The National-led Government will continue its agenda to address those issues that New Zealanders care about—issues such as better education for our youth starting with a goal of 98 percent of all children accessing early childhood education before they start primary school and identifying and supporting those youth who need support around literacy and numeracy. Without that essential support we are committing them to failure. May I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Ministers Anne Tolley and Hekia Parata for the wonderful work that they are doing and have done.  
National will continue to unclog the health system from its managerialism or its over-managerialism ensuring that money reaches the doctors and nurses so that they can perform their miraculous procedures and add to the quality of people’s lives. Today our hospitals are performing 20000 more elective procedures than they were under the last Labour administration and what is more National’s goal is to increase the number by at least 4000 further elective procedures. Has the Minister of Health Tony Ryall not done a great job?  
National will continue to take the lead and bring along the public in developing better ways of preventing child abuse. An outstanding example of this is the present Green Paper for Vulnerable Children which is being conducted by the Minister for Social Development Paula Bennett. What a great job Minister Paula Bennett is doing in this area.  
National made significant progress in reducing crime during its first term in Government by increasing the number of uniformed police and equipping them with the tools to do their job better. We look forward with confidence as Minister Collins continues the outstanding work started by the previous Minister Simon Power in the law and order area.  
That is but a flavour of the work streams that this hard-working Government has as its programme for the next 3 years. I am sure that my fellow colleagues will articulate the many other work streams that this Government has to address going forward in their presentations to the House. In conclusion New Zealanders can have confidence and trust that this National-led Government will do its level best—it will do its level best—for all those who are prepared to help themselves. Thank you. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour) 
: 
 Firstly could I congratulate obviously Lockwood Smith the Speaker on his reappointment. I also pay my respects to the Governor-General as is the tradition in this debate. 
We are some 2½ months from the last election and oh how the world has certainly changed in a number of ways both globally and domestically. It is interesting how personalities change and how the cracks in Governments start to open. It is 2½ months after an election and I congratulate the National Party on its substantial victory. You would have thought that unity would have broken out in this country peace would have reigned and we would now be inheriting the sort of brighter future that John Key promised us not just in one election but in two elections. But if you look at the analysis over the last months weeks and days what do we have? We have division in New Zealand. We have protest. We have court action against the Government. We have Waitangi Tribunal claims being lodged. We have people being insulted—leaders in our community. We have public discontent. And we have no political leadership and no ideas from the Government as evidenced by the Address in Reply debate. 
You can tell of course when a Government gets arrogant. You can tell when in the second term the Government starts to get arrogant. Normally it takes a few years of the second term but it has taken 2½ months. Yesterday we had the senior Minister the politician of the year Gerry Brownlee blow a fuse a sort of political version of a blunderbuss at the Mayor of Christchurch who I would have thought had got a fair bit on his plate—as Mr Brownlee does every day of course; three times I think. He called Bob Parker a clown. 
I have to say I sat there for a minute knowing Mr Brownlee as I do and tried to work out where he was at the time when he thought of this wonderful term “clown”. What sort of inspiration was he thinking of? Then it became clear; I looked up Wikipedia and it became clear. Mr Brownlee’s favourite restaurant of course being McDonald’s I thought that must be his inspiration—the McDonald’s clown. Of course it was because if you look at Wikipedia you see that it says about Ronald McDonald the clown that represents the fast-food chain that he “inhabits a fantasy world called McDonaldland and has adventures with his friend Mayor McCheese …”. I thought that must be Gerry; after the third double-meat burger and chips he blows a fuse and attacks the Mayor of Christchurch. You know when a Government is cracking and you know a Government is starting to get arrogant when you have that sort of stuff going on. 
We have protest in this country now we have division in this country now and I am waiting and New Zealand is waiting for the so-called economic brighter future that Mr Key promised us. If you look at the job figures of course you see that full-time jobs are down the number of hours worked is down 100000 people want or need more hours to make ends meet 83000 people—mostly young people—are not in education work or training quality jobs are going out the door and families cannot make ends meet. This Government’s answer its only idea—apart from abusing mayors of Christchurch and others—its only strategy is first just manage and spin the economic decline manage the decline manage the drift south and secondly the big idea which of course is not original sell State assets. Again you can tell a Government is cracking when you see the arrogance come out again. 
This Government won an election—I accept that. But I say this: those members know and the polls show that the State-owned enterprise sales the fire sales that this Government is going to engage in have been rejected by New Zealanders and the discontent is growing. The thing that Mr Brownlee does not get as he blows another powder keg and has another crack at people is that people in the communities are not silly and they can work out basic economics. They know of course that when you sell revenue-generating assets when you max the credit card out as this crowd has borrowing hundreds of millions of bucks a week when you spend all the cash as this crowd has—just like a household spending all its income; all the cash is gone and you keep borrowing—your only alternative is to sell something. So you sell the car but you keep borrowing on the credit card. So you pay off maybe a month’s debt but you keep borrowing and on it goes. What do you do then? You sell the motorbike maybe. You sell the fridge. You keep selling and you erode your assets. 
Well the communities have worked it out. Mr Brownlee once said on radio that the communities do not understand budgets people do not understand basic economics— 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: I never said that! 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: Yes you did on Newstalk ZB. I say to Mr Brownlee that if you can balance your household budget in these recessionary times you would have a PhD in economics something Mr Brownlee will not even get close to. People have worked it out. So the Government strategy and the big idea is for this crowd to sell revenue-generating assets and then try to—[ 
Interruption 
] Old “Twinkletoes” at the back is getting fired up. Then they try to sell it to the people of New Zealand by saying “We are going to buy schools. We are going to build schools and the odd bridge. We are going to invest this money in other assets.” People think hey that is not a bad idea—because we are all in favour of schools and better roads and those things. But here is the difficulty economically: you sell revenue-generating assets you forgo the dividends you buy non - revenue-generating assets and at some point in time—I know that this will be a bit difficult for Mr Brownlee; use all your fingers and toes Gerry—you run out of cash. 
Then the proposition is what you do then. You have continued to borrow you have no cash you have sold the asset you have used up the cash so what is the proposition then? The only option for this Government is to sell more—to sell more. Those members have this sort of ideological block. Labour members engaged in this in the 1980s—remember colleagues? But we learnt. These guys engaged in it in the 1990s got re-elected and did not learn. I invite them to walk down their streets and ask people: “Are you in favour of selling State-owned enterprises? Are you in favour of selling your power companies?”. Because people have also worked out that these are commercial operations and they know there will be overseas interest in them. Tony Ryall confirmed in the House that he has no plans no ideas and cannot stop the passing on and onsale of shares from maybe the odd mum and dad Kiwi who might find some cash after they have paid all their household bills—if they have got a job—to whip down to the stockbroker and buy some shares. Government members have no plans no options and cannot stop shares passing on to overseas interests. 
Why would overseas interests—or anybody—buy a State-owned enterprise? They do not do it out of a charitable spirit. They buy it to make money. We know what will happen to power prices. Overseas interests are not going to sit there and say to the Government they are happy just to take a static dividend or they are happy just to take less. They are going to say “We want more money.” and they are going to screw it out of the people of New Zealand. Peter Dunne will be here somewhere I am sure; I am sure I can see him. If the Maori Party acquiesces and actually does the right thing and walks he may go down in history as this country’s best auctioneer—going going gone. He may well hold the pivotal vote that can either stop this going forward or allow it to go forward. I invite Peter Dunne to reflect on that. He will make history one way or the other. He will make history over this. 
So the big idea after you have maxed the card out and got rid of all the cash is to flog off the family silver. At least Government members are honest enough to say that if they win another election they will consider doing it again but they will do it after the election. So we know that once they have sold these assets there are others on the block. There is a campaign being engendered and generated around the country from grassroots Kiwis who have been down this road before do not like it know that it does not work and know that this crowd are bereft of ideas. We can tell they are bereft of ideas because they start attacking good community folk. When you attack in the press the Mayor of Christchurch who has probably got the hardest job in New Zealand as a mayor trying to rebuild his city because you blew a fuse—maybe you did not have a decent kip the night before or the tuck shop was closed before you got there—it is a sign of a Government under stress. 
It is going to be interesting as we go through this State-owned enterprises debate to see the twisting and the turning that will occur over section 9. It is happening now. The Prime Minister knows the complications in respect of the creative remedies around that. But I invite the next speaker to get up and explain Mr Brownlee’s actions and I invite the Government to think very carefully. Mr Brownlee’s actions are an example of where it is heading. 
MIKE SABIN (National—Northland) 
: 
 One of this nation’s finest leaders said of leadership that “Having a vision is not enough. Change comes through … turning [a vision] into a reality. It is easy to espouse worthy goals values and polices; the hard part is implementation.” Tragically 10 years ago the architect of those words Sir Peter Blake lost his life in the pursuit of turning his vision into a reality. The essence of the Blake ethos centred around the notion that it is your actions that define you not your words—something that can be easily forgotten by those well intentioned in their pursuit of public service. I raise this because in 2008 as a recipient of a Sir Peter Blake leadership award I had cause to reflect on my journey the importance of leadership and the visions that I wanted to see become realities. That moment was a turning point and much of the reason I am here today something I will expand on shortly.  
But firstly Mr Speaker I acknowledge you for your re-nomination and for the dignity and decorum you bring to this role. Can I acknowledge the Prime Minister and Ministers of the Crown for the tremendous social and economic leadership that you have and will continue to show this nation and express how humble and privileged I feel to become part of this National caucus team working to serve the positive aspirations of all New Zealanders. Can I also acknowledge our party president Peter Goodfellow the National Party board he leads and the team from the service centre. I want to sincerely thank you all for the assistance you have provided me and acknowledge the outstanding leadership and support you provide our party. In particular can I thank Grant McCallum who is also my campaign chair. I also pay tribute to the electorate team in Northland. Our success in the election is just that—our success. Nothing could have been achieved without you and although I am the net result of those efforts in my election as MP I want you to know that this has and always will be a team effort. I want to especially make mention of Sally Macauley our electorate chair the longest serving in the party; Neil Clements my deputy chair a very wise political gentleman; Ross Miller a loyal and guiding hand; and a special thanks to the evergreen June Levet the “Mrs National Party” of the north.  
At this stage I would also like to pay tribute to my predecessor the Hon John Carter for the massive contribution he made to this party to Northland and to this nation. Of course “massive contribution” could also describe the tab he now has at Trader Jacks but I am sure the Cooks will be well served with him as their high commissioner not only for the passion he brings to make a difference but also for the range of new jokes he will be unleashing on an unsuspecting population. I want to offer my thanks to all Northlanders who supported me through the campaign and have trusted in me to be their representative. I owe you all a debt of gratitude and I hope to repay this in kind by being as effective as I can be as your MP in representing the hopes and positive aspirations of Northland and our region.  
Lastly I want to thank my family—my wonderful parents siblings and children. I am who I am because of you and I could not be more proud to be part of the family that we are. Also I make a special thanks to my partner Sandra. I have not always been lucky in love but my Powerball number certainly came up in that particular lottery when Sandra came into my life. Thank you very much Sandra for sharing my life with me in the way you do.  
I would now like to share with you three important themes: who I am what I believe in and why I am here. I am the eldest son of Lew and Merlene Sabin and I have one brother and sister. I am the proud father of three amazing children—as you can see these family things do get to me Mr Speaker—Brook Darryl and Brenna. I am of mixed genealogy like most and I am proudly of Tainui whakapapa on my mother’s side. It gives me a uniqueness in this world and I celebrate that. But I celebrate more that I am a New Zealander and I call this place my home.  
My early years were spent in Auckland before we as a family moved to Whangarei and I am a product of Whangarei Boys High School. I left school and followed my father’s footsteps into the navy as a seaman officer but before long I found myself back in Northland dairy farming. However as a young father I was keen to join the police essentially to contribute to making the community I was bringing my children up in a better place. With that in mind my policing career was soon focused in the area of drug enforcement primarily because I felt that the best way to make a difference was to get to the cause of the problem. One quickly comes to the conclusion in that particular vocation that alcohol and drug abuse is the cause more often than not.  
My career in the police shadowed the introduction of pure methamphetamine or P into New Zealand—an area I have developed an expertise in—but while working on squads running undercover on electronic surveillance operations I literally saw New Zealand explode from having no P problem to the worst in the world within 5 years. Our well-developed drug culture saw us primed for the only hard drug in the world that you can make on your kitchen bench from readily available retail chemicals. Those 5 years have changed New Zealand for ever and led me to the conclusion that the fight needed to go back to the top of the cliff. Quite simply I came to the conclusion that we would not win the war trying to heal the wounded.  
This desire to find a better way gave rise to Methcon Group a drug-education and policy company I founded in 2006 and operated from then. The mission was simple: empower employees students and the community with education while working to find policy solutions to help provide the Government with better tools. It was a long difficult and often lonely journey and one that many told me was futile and one that many told me was someone else’s problem to fix. Nevertheless I stuck to the task at hand the primary reason being that I just believed that someone needed to do something. Could I at this time pay tribute to the Prime Minister and acknowledge the outstanding leadership on this particular issue. It has indeed been a gamebreaker.  
That challenge was put into chilling context however when on Anzac Day 2009 my fight went from P to that of my son’s survival when he suffered a catastrophic bleed on the brain during a game of rugby. This could get tough Mr Speaker. Following his emergency surgery I was confronted with the news that his death was imminent something I refused to accept as well as the contention that if he did survive it would likely be in a vegetative state. Like his old man my boy is a fighter. I knew that even if they did not. I pledged to fight with him to help get his life back. It was a frightening journey full of heartache but one in which we never lost hope. Sometimes hope is the only thing you have to cling to. When that is the case you just have to develop an iron grip. Something I am very proud to say is that we have been rewarded today as my son sits in the gallery larger than life fit and healthy to watch proceedings. That taught me that it is not what happens in life that defines you it is what you do about it. It was a difficult couple of years but by now my goal was to enter politics and I sold my business to allow for a full-time campaign in an endeavour to try to win the selection and the election that followed.  
While there are some who would say that I am a one-trick pony here to further the anti-drug cause far from it: my journey into politics has come about as an evolution of many professional and life experiences leading me to the simple conclusion that if one wants to support their community in achieving its real potential there is a need for one to be around the table where the decisions that are most affecting your communities are being made. The reality is my efforts on the P issue demonstrate more my willingness to try to make a difference than my focus on that one issue alone. Much like my son I just wanted to try to find solutions while many others were finding ways to tolerate the symptoms.  
I would now like to share with you a little bit of what I believe in. I am a proud representative of the New Zealand National Party because its founding values resonate with who I am as an individual. Central to this is personal responsibility reward for hard work and enterprise limited government and equality of opportunity and citizenship. It is a fast-paced world we live in and much has changed even in my lifetime with regard to the fabric that binds the society together and the balance required to maintain a healthy socio-economic equilibrium. Too often in my view a sense of pride self-reliance and independence is usurped by cultural entitlement despite the implicit irony that so many who contribute nothing to society have developed an almost self-righteous belief that society owes them something. Striving to succeed and success itself are so often frowned upon as threatening and somehow discriminating against those who seek refuge behind the ever-growing veil of mediocrity. Participation it seems is now the goal and winning as an equal part unnecessary and intimidatory. Personal responsibility the very source from which self-respect itself springs is intrinsically related to the individual’s willingness to accept responsibility over one’s life. To do so is to give value purpose and freedom to the soul; to refuse it leaves a hole from which the spirit of the individual will slowly but surely drain.  
Yet years of socialist ideology welfarism which has evolved to provide perverse incentives to opt out and the insidious encroachment of Government into the minds and lives of citizens have seen the notion of personal responsibility pilloried like it was the ramblings of capitalist zealots. This country is God’s own yet we condemn many children to child abuse neglect and homicide. For a generation we have vainly sought solutions largely ignoring the fact that what we have created is a culture in which it is too easy for parents to become trapped in welfare often through no fault of their own who lack even the most basic of life skills and for whom personal responsibility is an unnecessary and irrelevant commodity surpassed by the sea of social agencies that will now seek to provide what they will never have to. Too often we have become consumed with addressing the symptoms of these very problems while failing to challenge the cause of them something that often requires courage and honesty in uncomfortable amounts but none the less something in my view that New Zealand expects of its leaders. To that end I would like to commend the work being done by the Minister for Social Development in this particular area. The long and short of it is a little bit of personal responsibility will go a long way but the lack thereof will go a lot further—just in the wrong direction.  
And why am I here? I am a great believer that a marriage of quality education and equality of opportunity are the essential building blocks of social well-being and prosperity. I am here because I want to do all I can to ensure that this environment exists to help Northland and New Zealand reach the obvious potential that we hold. I also come here with a focus to see Northland develop a whole-of-region economic plan that clearly outlines a path to reaching that potential the barriers that may stand in the way and the opportunities we have to make our boat go faster. And there are many. Too often Northland is singled out for all the wrong reasons but let me make it quite clear to you today these less-than-flattering statistics are not the failure; our failure is that Northland is blessed with economic potential but we have no plan to achieve it—not yet anyway. On that note can I suggest that if any members of the House are looking for some good beachside property in Northland then it may pay to get in quick!  
 The last point I want to make relates to judgment. As elected representatives one of our primary roles in my view is the exercise of judgment. Edmund Burke viewed by many as a philosophical founder of modern conservatism said of judgment: “Your representative owes you not his industry only but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.” In a world that is over-managed and under-led leadership and judgment are what New Zealanders need and expect of us—something I will always keep top-of-mind.  
So in conclusion who am I? I am a proud father of a blended family of six richer in spirit for the good and bad experiences of my personal life poorer financially for the fact that I have managed to amass six children somehow in the process. I am a passionate Northlander. I am passionate about Northland and New Zealand and the pursuit of the potential therein. What do I believe in? That personal responsibility is just that: the responsibility of the person not the Government; that carrots work better than sticks but that both are necessary; that the first question we should be asking New Zealanders is “What is your dream?” and then set about creating a social and economic environment to help make those dreams possible. Why am I here? I am here for the implementation. Quite simply I want to help turn visions into realities. Thank you. 
PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 I move  
That the debate be now adjourned 
.  
Motion agreed to.