Smith Lockwood: General Debates 
Smith Lockwood: General Debates 
[Volume:615;Page:11312] 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
: 
 This morning I was in the electorate of the Hon Trevor Mallard the Minister of Education who is also now the new Coordinating Minister Race Relations. The mother of a child whose schooling is being turned on its head by this Labour Government said to me: “We used to think she had some integrity.”—referring to the Prime Minister Helen Clark. Can we blame that person for arriving at the conclusion that Helen Clark’s integrity has gone when her child’s schooling is being turned on its head solely because the school network review happened to take place before a series of political polls? That is what that parent feels. She feels that her child’s schooling is being turned on its head because the network review in her area—which happens to be Trevor Mallard’s area—was carried out before the series of opinion polls that showed that the people of New Zealand have had a gutsful of what Helen Clark and her Labour Government are doing to this country. I thought that that simple little honest statement from a parent spoke volumes—“We used to think she had some integrity.” 
Tom Scott’s cartoon in today’s  
Dominion Post  
says it all: “They said it couldn’t be done but as I pointed out to my Cabinet colleagues if you join enough of the dots you make stripes…”. Of course we all know that Helen Clark is a fairly skilled painter. We know that from her track record. 
After Don Brash’s very honest speech at Orewa in my electorate—I was there—Helen Clark mocked it. Do members know what she said in that smarmy way she says things? She said: “I wondered what the Orewa Rotary had done to deserve this speech.” She mocked it but now the grin is on the other side of her face because my people in the Rotary club at Orewa were the first to feel the honesty of what Don Brash said to them. As we know several polls later—Paul Holmes had a record number of respondents to his poll; The Rock FM showed that young people felt the same way; and there were historic shifts in the Television One and  
New Zealand Herald  
polls—we are seeing the U-turns. The race-based fundings the legislative references to the Treaty of Waitangi and the foreshore and seabed policies are all under review. All the school network reviews now have a moratorium on them—except the ones that took place before the poll results. That is the principle Helen Clark displays. She has all the colour-fast principles of a chameleon—a couple of poll results and the policies all change. 
Mr Speaker you will remember the last time that happened—but I must not bring you into the debate. It was in 1988. Not many members of this Parliament were here then. I was and I remember it so well. The date was 28 January 1988 when the then Prime Minister David Lange did the last Labour Government U-turn. He decided to have a cuppa. The only problem was that he did not tell Roger Douglas. Of course what happened? Not long after Roger Douglas resigned because when Governments lose their principle—when they actually lose their integrity—it is the beginning of the end. 
 We have seen it this time around because just as David Lange did not tell Roger Douglas that he was having a cuppa on 28 January 1988 neither it seems did Helen Clark tell the Maori MPs that the foreshore and seabed policy was up for review. What the newspaper tells us is that a delegation of Maori members was very angry. The members had not been told about the changes and were very angry and they went along to the Deputy Prime Minister to have a fight about it. As we saw in 1988 when the last Labour Government did its big U-turn in policy it is the beginning of the end—back then it fell to bits. Nothing demonstrates the divisiveness of this Government more than this simple fact: over the last 18 months it has had a huge programme of hui around the country to consult on its foreshore and seabed policy. There have been 11 hui held around the country not one involving non-Maori people.