Brash Don: Adjournment Sittings of the House 
Brash Don: Adjournment Sittings of the House 
[Volume:622;Page:18133] 
Dr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 I have much pleasure in supporting the adjournment motion. I do so for two very good reasons. The first is that this has been an awful year for the Prime Minister and she needs a good break. Yes the economy has been quite buoyant but every independent commentator knows that the economy has been buoyant—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! When I said: “Order!” I meant it. A reasonable amount of interjection is OK. 
Dr DON BRASH 
: Yes the economy has been quite buoyant but every independent commentator knows that it has been buoyant not because of this Government but despite it. It is because of the much deplored policies of the 1980s and 1990s the strong commodity prices the strong inflow of people following September 11 and the very low interest rates around the world. It is not because of the extra compliance costs imposed by the Holidays Act the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill the Government’s failure to fix the roading crisis or the Government’s failure to fix the Resource Management Act. 
What do we get for this buoyancy? The average after-tax real household income today is no higher than it was when this Government came into office. The real after-tax income of a household on average is no higher now than it was 5 years ago. The gap between the average wage after income tax of the New Zealand worker and the average of the Australian worker was just over $5000 in 1999 and is now almost $9000 today. Even on the economy the Government has been an abject failure despite the favourable external circumstances. 
Helen Clark has had huge problems with her own Cabinet. Where may I ask is Lianne Dalziel—the Minister of Immigration until she was caught telling something less than the total truth? Where is the Minister for Small Business who accepted a $300000 golden handshake after saying he would not accept it? Where is the Associate Minister of Maori Affairs who resigned because of the dishonesty of this Government over the foreshore and seabed legislation? What about the Minister of Education who had to be hauled back into line over school closures? What about the Minister of Police who totally failed to discharge his responsibilities? Then of course there have been all those Government policy U-turns. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: There are interjections on both sides and I am paying particular attention to the fact that members of both the Government and the Opposition were interjecting. I want to hear Dr Brash and I want now for there to be fewer interjections. 
Dr DON BRASH 
: Yes we changed policy on a couple of issues but we have always contended that at this time in our history we should be running a bigger than average fiscal surplus. The right thing to do with that fiscal surplus is to strengthen the economy with it and to retire debt as every householder would but we accept that most New Zealanders want a superannuation fund they can see. Only the Opposition can take the New Zealand Superannuation Fund off the political football field and we have done that. We offered to older New Zealanders predictability and certainty. We have accepted that 4 weeks’ annual leave is now being written into collective agreements but we want to give employees the choice and flexibility so that if they want to work an extra week and get paid for doing that then they can have that choice. 
But let me list some of the U-turns of the current Government. It did a U-turn on school closures and another on the policy of funding based on need not race. The Government said that did not exist; all policies it said were based on need not race. Well we have suddenly discovered that decile funding is not based on need; it is based on race. It was said that we did not need to fix the Resource Management Act and the Government scrapped the amendment bill to that Act that National brought in in 1999. But now it acknowledges that it needs to be reviewed. The Government wanted to decriminalise consensual sex for children as young as 12. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I advise members that the time for Dr Brash’s speech is not being used up at this stage. 
Dr DON BRASH 
: Mr Goff said at one stage that he could sell that to the public. The Government decided to abandon the Social Entrepreneur Fund and to abandon the Community Employment Group. The Government started off with the concept of the public domain as I recall in relation to the seabed and foreshore but all of a sudden it is Crown ownership. 
Of course all of those changes have been brought about because the Government suddenly realised that it will face a challenge next year. The changes are not about substance; they are about form. Let us take the policy of funding according to need not race. What about those primary health organisations offering free taxi rides to Maori and Pacific Islanders but only to poor non-Maori? What about the special quotas for Maori at universities? And what about Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed? There are so many qualifications as to be meaningless. We know that secret deals are being done and that Crown ownership means nothing—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is enough! I am not having interjections in the second person. That member will be going home early. 
Hon Bill English 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Just as you indicated to the member that he would be going home early and then turned to this side of the House the member muttered some very uncomplimentary remarks towards you. I ask that he withdraw and apologise. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I was listening to the member and he was not referring to me. If he had been he would have been out. 
Dr DON BRASH 
: The New Zealand public is increasingly fed up with the lack of vision from this Government the suffocating political correctness the nanny State mentality the way in which Labour is increasingly driving more and more middle-income New Zealanders to be beneficiaries and the way in which Labour’s failure to ease the tax burden on hard-working New Zealanders is putting more and more cash into the hands of the Government and the bureaucracy and driving more and more New Zealanders into debt. Next year New Zealanders will have a choice between a Government that is driving the country further into dependence and a Government that will drive New Zealand towards independence and self-reliance. That is my first reason for supporting this motion. My second reason is that Helen Clark will need a good break before the toughest fight of her political career. 
Mr Speaker let me finish by thanking you for your hard work both this year and for many years in the past. This has not always been an easy classroom to chair. I also give thanks to the Deputy Speaker and the Assistant Speakers the police who have accompanied me around the country my drivers the Parliamentary Library staff and all the other staff who have assisted the National Party and of course my parliamentary colleagues for their assistance throughout this year. Thank you very much indeed.