Little AndrewGENERAL DEBATEANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. The only question of the day is of course what is going on in the National Government? What is going on in the National Government? Why is it that it cannot get any consistency? Why is it all at sixes and sevens over an increasing number of policies and pieces of legislation? Shall we start randomly with say the shop trading hours piece of legislation because that is topical. Everybody is talking about it. Michael Jones is talking about it. Other people are talking about it. People in South Auckland people who are concerned about values and people who want to preserve the integrity of Easter Sunday—they are talking about it. You see a few years ago when the whole Parliament talked about it a few National MPs actually had a view about it. So for example Bill English had a view about it because he voted against it. Oh yes—oh yes. And he was not the only one. Chester Borrows had a view about it. He did not like it. He did not like the liberalisation of it so he voted against it. They were not the only ones. Sam Lotu-Iiga—he voted against it. Tim Macindoe voted against it. And when there was a discussion about it a few years later Alfred Ngaro expressed his opposition to liberalising Sunday trading on Easter Sunday. But mysteriously the National Government finds now when it is confronted with this issue that its members are all in harmonious agreement. But we know that is not true—we know that is not true. You see part of the integrity of this Parliament is that occasionally the House agrees that there are issues that are a matter of personal importance—matters of conscience—and so every member is entitled to vote in accordance with their conscience. That conscience might be dictated to by a number of factors including one's religious beliefs and that is totally respectable and acceptable. But all of a sudden this issue—which is about the integrity of one of the great religious observances at least on the Christian calendar which has now become so culturally vital to the way we observe holidays and breaks in New Zealand—suddenly is not important to people's individual consciences any more. And so we have a Government now desperate to give the appearance of consistency and cohesion having to tell its members of conscience—because there is only a handful of them—that they cannot vote according to their conscience. I just simply ask the question: what is going on? It is a bit like the cigarette packaging legislation. You see that has come up for debate too and that is an issue on which members have expressed personal views. And it is not just about what Benson and Hedges thinks or whatever the tobacco manufacturers out in Pētone think; it is about what members here think about it and the public health issues that go with it. But all of a sudden National decides that that does not matter anymore—that what was once an issue of conscience is no longer an issue of conscious anymore. What is happening with National now is it is using the same patronising attitudes to its own members as it uses to some of its coalition partners and supporters such as the Māori Party. The Māori Party expresses views on all range of things and it often expresses views that support us. Hon Bill English: Labour wouldn't let them do that.ANDREW LITTLE: But when it comes to having to vote for the measures enacted by Bill English and John Key and their Government the Māori Party does not get a look in. It does not get a look in and so the Māori Party members are compelled against their consciences and against their policy to vote for measures that are detrimental to Māori such as selling State houses such as doing nothing about low wages such as freezing the education budget and the police budget. You see the Māori Party does not get a look in with that lot. Government members talk a big game about being responsive and respectful to Māori but they are not. They tow along the Māori Party on their coat-tails and it makes no difference unlike the Labour Party where our rich diverse Māori caucus is an integral part of who we are and they sit around the table and make those decisions. The reality is this Government has given up. It has nothing meaningful to say on anything. What is its big priority right now?Hon David Parker: Schools without schools.ANDREW LITTLE: No it is lost and found in the airports. That is what it is concerned about—it is the lost and found in the airport and all its intellectual time and energy is going to finding the people who leave things lying around in airports. That is what it cares about. Forget about communities of online learning—the Government is not going to help them. The Government does not even know that the online learning that is happening at the moment is happening in classrooms to help students learn about collaboration. It wants to upset that and do the opposite. [Interruption] The Minister of Education does not even know what she is talking about. She does not know what her own policy is. This is a Government in total disarray and it is coming to an end.