Coleman Jonathan: General Debate 
Coleman Jonathan: General Debate 
[Volume:673;Page:19387] 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 I join with colleagues in extending my condolences to the people of Canterbury at this time. It is a very tough period that people down there in Christchurch and Canterbury are going through and as the Prime Minister said on Monday the New Zealand Government and members right across the House are firmly behind them. That city has a great future and will be fully supported by this Government. 
Is it not great to have New Zealand’s favourite political punching bag Phil Goff back in the country fresh back from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” where— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I take offence to that reference to a member’s family. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: There was no intended reference to a member’s family and that member knows that that was not intended. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: My concern about this is that I do not want to be endlessly ruling out things. I did not believe that it was a nasty comment. Well I hear plenty of— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Keep families out of it. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think we must come to it. It is my fault that we have got to this stage and I think it is good advice that families should be kept out of it. That is good advice and I ask the member to do that. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Families were never included in that comment quite frankly. It is great to have the favourite punching bag back in the country. The first thing he had to do when he got back here was to start explaining his handling of recent political affairs. Explaining is losing and that is what he has had to do. Phil Goff has the survival instincts of a lemming and the hunting instincts of a sheep. We had a fantastic zero Budget—the first ever—and all Phil Goff could do was leave the country. As soon as he got back he had to start explaining. This is a man who cannot ram home a political point. 
The guys on the other side of the House think they are in touch with New Zealand. I can tell the House where I think the Labour Party has gone wrong. These members are no longer representative of what they take as their core constituency. I ask the members over there to show me who has ever dug a drain driven a bus or worked full-time in a shop. They have not. There are teachers union hacks and activists. There are two business people sitting over there but the point is that if they think they are in touch with the people in west Auckland the Hutt Valley or Porirua then they are sadly mistaken. That is where the Labour Party has gone wrong. The good news is that there is absolutely no respite for Labour members. I think they will be in that situation for a long long time. The faces are down there. I do not think the next Labour Prime Minister is even in Parliament quite frankly. 
Moana Mackey made some points before. She thinks that by going on and on and saying that there is no plan the public of New Zealand will believe her. I can say that I do not think that list MP a person without constituents can understand what is happening out there in New Zealand. New Zealanders get it. They know there is a difficult financial situation that this Government has had to deal with. As my colleague Tim Groser said we have had to make some real changes that will be better for the long-term future of New Zealand. 
If members want something to sum it up I tell them that next year we are halving the deficit the year after that we are halving it again and then it will be gone. By 2014 three countries in the Western World will be back in surplus. It will be us Australia and Korea. If Labour gets in I can tell members that it will continue to roll out the unfunded promises and it will continue to borrow. The borrowing will be higher the debt levels will be higher and our children will be paying for it forever. 
I hope Phil Goff learnt one thing in Greece. He might have learnt—because he is very much influenced by the last person he talks to—that borrowing and borrowing and never paying back the debt does not work. It does not work. At the end of the day it means that countries go bankrupt. 
If one looks at a financial illiterate like Trevor Mallard who criminally was an Associate Minister of Finance—if that man ever gets his hand on the books again— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No we are not going to have “criminally” used in relation to a member. The member needs to be more cautious than that. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: I think you will appreciate the subtlety of that term. I was not suggesting that despite being— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is the second time you have ruled against that member and he has commented on your ruling. You know that that is against the Standing Orders and it lacks a bit of taste as well. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: We do not need that. The member’s point of order was fine until that last point. The member should not be commenting on a ruling. I accept that there may be different contexts of referring to another member behaving criminally but it is simply not allowed in this House to refer to another member behaving in that way and the member must not comment on that. 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Sometimes there is a point in distinguishing between the metaphorical and the literal but what is literal in this case is that Labour does not have a plan to get New Zealand out of debt. 
Hon Members 
: Ha ha! 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: It does not. If it does let the next Labour speaker get up and lay it out. It has to be more than taking GST off fruit and vegetables. That will not cut it. I can tell members that these guys have spent way too much time in the beltway. When they do occasionally get out they go and talk to party activists. That is where Labour members get all their information from. If they actually got out and spoke to people in real New Zealand they would hear from those people that these are tough economic times but they can see that John Key has the plan to get New Zealand ahead. 
As I tell you we will halve the deficit next year and halve it the year after and then it will be gone. You saw those Treasury predictions. I can tell anyone who doubts Treasury that they are the most conservative economic people you will ever meet. If you look at what we are doing and if you look at the initiatives that are happening around the convention centre you will see that there are 1000 permanent jobs. There is a clear plan there. New Zealand is going in the right direction. I reckon Kiwis will continue to put their trust in John Key and the National-led Government. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Before I call the next member I say that senior members should know they should not say “you”. Members who have been in the House for some time should know that unless they do not know what they are saying.