Swain Paul: General Debate 
Swain Paul: General Debate 
[Volume:621;Page:16807] 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Labour) 
: 
 The National Party has started to get that familiar stench about it again; there is no doubt about that. It had that kind of familiar stench when Bill English rolled Jenny Shipley. Do members remember that? A very very bad smell started coming out from the National benches over there. Then it was there again when Don Brash rolled Bill English—the same familiar kind of smell wafting over from the benches of the National Opposition. And I tell members that they have it again now. We can smell it; it is coming over from that side of the House. Why is that? Well primarily those National members are just—plain and simple—hopeless. They are just absolutely hopeless and useless. They are hardly worthy of the name “Opposition” with no policy and no leadership. 
The speech last week from Don Brash would have been the worst speech from a leader that I have heard during the 14 years I have been in this House. It was probably— 
Darren Hughes 
: It was embarrassing. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes that is right. It was the worst speech I have heard in this House from anyone in 14 years. It was embarrassing. It was embarrassing to the National Party as he stuttered ummed and aahed his way through it. There was no conviction—he was like a possum in the headlights. But it was such a helpful speech for the Labour Government that he was given a standing ovation by its members. I have never seen that in my 14 years. 
There is no policy from the National Party—except that lunchtime will be gone by lunchtime. That is the only thing we have heard. As my colleague Steve Maharey said some of the things Dr Brash said last year in November 2003 were: “We are going to develop policy—um aah um aah—we are going to say um aah what it is.” That is what he said except that in September this year he said: “The likelihood is that we um aah won’t do any other major speeches on things like um aah social welfare reform education and so on until the beginning of next year.” So instead of coming at the electorate and telling us clearly what National is standing for and instead of doing now what he said he would do last year everyone will have to wait until next year. 
The National Party is irrelevant. In the words of  
Kath and Kim 
 it is “so 5 minutes ago”. That is the truth about the National Party. But what about comparing it to the Labour-led Government? We are going into the Labour Party conference with great things to tell those supportive delegates at that conference. We will be telling them things such as in the last 5 years economic growth has been running at about 3.5 to 4 percent which is absolutely unheard of. The OECD average is 2.4 percent and we have 3.5 to 4 percent. We will be saying to delegates—and they will know this—that under this Labour-led Government for the first time in New Zealand there are now 2 million workers in New Zealand which is 236000 more since this Government was elected in 1999. 
We will tell delegates staggering facts like the fact that the unemployment rate in New Zealand is down almost to a 20-year low of 4 percent. But members should listen to this because they will not believe their ears when they hear it. Under the policies of this Labour-led Government Maori unemployment is down from 18.2 percent in 1999 to 8.8 percent and falling. Labour delegates from all around the country will hear for example that the growth rate in Northland is 5.1 percent Auckland 4.1 percent Bay of Plenty 5.3 percent Gisborne 3.6 percent Waikato 4.6 percent and down in the South Island Otago 5.5 percent Southland 5.1 percent and—members should listen to this—the growth rate on the West Coast is 5.6 percent under this Labour-led Government. Under the previous National Government the regions were cast adrift. There was nothing happening in the regions. This is the kind of fabulous information that delegates will get. 
We will tell the delegates to the Labour conference at the weekend about some of the great things that have happened under this Labour-led Government. We will tell them about the fact that we have reinstituted apprenticeships. They were “gone-burgers” under the National Government; the apprenticeship system was absolutely history. But now my colleague Steve Maharey says that we will have 8000 or so modern apprentices by 2006. The Labour Party has great things to say; the National Party is totally and utterly irrelevant.