Mallard Trevor: General Debates 
Mallard Trevor: General Debates 
[Volume:609;Page:6143] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister of Education) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. The question that the country is currently addressing is when Bill English will make up his mind not on whether to stay or to go but just on something. The country wants to know when we will have a leader of the Opposition who believes in something. [ 
Interruption 
] I know that Gerry Brownlee is yawning because he knows that it will be for ever. He cannot hold his breath until that happens. He knows that at some point the National Party caucus will say: “Look Mr English you’re just embarrassing.”  
I want to quote Max Bradford someone who I think is one of the brighter former members of the National Party. The Tories dumped him because he was too bright for them. He had leadership ambitions and he was too bright so he was stuck down the list. What did he say? He said that the National Party had an appalling lack of backbone in the leadership. Who disagrees with that? Not one National Party member is prepared to disagree with Max Bradford. We even have Roger Sowry in the House and he will not disagree with Max Bradford.  
What happened in relation to the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan showed a National Party with an appalling lack of backbone in its leadership. Why can we not have a National Party that was like the great party of the past? I was in the House with Muldoon. I disagreed with him as he was often wrong. However no one accused Muldoon of not having backbone. I am just old enough to remember Keith Holyoake in the House. No one from within his own party accused Keith Holyoake of not having backbone and got away with it. It is the end of any party to have a leadership that is seen by the rank and file of that party as being about to go. That is what the polling shows. The polling shows that National supporters do not want to keep him but they are not quite sure who they want to replace him. There is a bit of doubt around that. 
Darren Hughes 
: Isn’t it Winston Peters? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Actually it is Mr Peters. They really want him but I am told that at 3 o’clock in the morning Bill English went on his knees and said: “Winston will you be my deputy?”. What did Winston say? I think he said something similar to what Bill said to Monica but we cannot say that. He was absolutely rejected by Winston Peters at 3 o’clock in the morning which was when he made his play. But we know that a growing number of people in the National Party are prepared to say that they would go into a coalition before the election—“And Winston you can have the job!” He can have the job because they all know he is brighter and has more staying power and more class than the National Party leader. National members know that the only way they can ever be part of a Government again in the next 20 years is to get Winston Peters to lead them. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Where was Trevor when they made mothers fathers? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well here we have Bronwyn’s mate chipping away again. Here he goes. Nick Smith has nothing to say. He has racist things to say in the newspaper in Nelson. He calls policies that he put money into racist but when it comes to Parliament and he has a chance to correct it to ask questions and to defend himself he has nothing to say. He is a lion in the electorate and a lamb in Parliament. I am told he is one of four people who still support Bill English.