Smith Nick: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSmith Nick: General Debate[Sitting date: 10 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9239. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister of Conservation): The test in the general debate this afternoon and for any party in Government is how a Government deals with the tough issues that come on the Government’s plate. This is a Government that has had more than its share of tough issues. What I have witnessed in the House this afternoon is how fit John Key and his Government are to deal with those tough issues and how unfit members opposite are to deal with those issues. What I have witnessed is an Opposition that is more interested in getting into grubby personality politics than dealing with the issues that are relevant. I want to talk about the issues at the GovernmentCommunications Security Bureau. I want to talk about the issues of the economy. I want to respond to the issues that have been raised around the issues of healthcare.Let us be honest: the Government Communications Security Bureau is in trouble. It has got challenges. It has got challenges that go way past the period that we have been in Government—way beyond. What we know is that the bureau was operating potentially outside the law under the previous Government.What would a responsible Government do? A responsible Government would get a respected public servant to turn that organisation inside out. That is exactly what the Minister responsible for the GCSB Prime Minister John Key has done—exactly what he has done. What it has shown is that there is a question mark about our Government Communications Security Bureau complying with a law that was written by members opposite. What it has shown is that during a good period under Helen Clark that organisation potentially acted unlawfully. We are a Government that is fit to fix it.What do members opposite want to do? Well I have to tell you they have learnt nothing. They believe that what the public out there wants to do when we face challenges is to get down into the gutter and try to besmirch people like our Prime Minister and we on this side of the House say we will not tolerate it. We have the best Prime Minister that this country has seen in 25 years. He is a Prime Minister who is prepared to deal with the difficult issues.What we also saw—and this is the part that is really sad for our country. On issues of national security I thought MPs would put their country first—I thought they would put their country first. What we have seen in speeches from the opposite side of the House is that when it comes to politics or the national interest the Labour Party and the Green Party will always choose their political interest over the country’s interest. I was particularly fearful of what I heard from the Green Party. What the Green Party said is that it wants to scrap the Government Communications Security Bureau—scrap the Government Communications Security Bureau. In this time when the threat of cybercrime is higher than ever when all of the international thoughtful press is actually saying that the security threats this century are far more likely in the era of communications security we have Opposition parties saying that they want to scrap the organisation. Well the voters have got a clear choice: a National Government that will fix the bureau or an Opposition that will either play politics with it or get rid of it. I say that is awfully wrong.Let us go elsewhere. Let us look at the economy. No Government in a generation has faced as difficult economic challenges not of its making as this John Key Government. What this Government has done around the economy is something of which I am hugely proud. Let us look at what the IMF has got to say about this Government’s economic record. We have Christine Lagarde the Managing Director of the respected IMF who says if you look at the numbers whether it is growth employment inflation debt or stability New Zealand looks very promising—in fact she said “… it’s certainly a lot better than … [any] other parts of the world.” That is what the IMF is saying about this Government’s stewardship of the economy. I say again that it shows that this is a Government that is prepared to front up to the difficult issues not of its making—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order! The member’s time has expired.