Peters Winston: Social Security (Entitlement Cards) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Peters Winston: Social Security (Entitlement Cards) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:639;Page:9146] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Associate Minister for Senior Citizens) 
: 
 It is very disappointing when someone comes to this Parliament as a very young member thereby inheriting the nickname “Young Nick” and 7 years later first demonstrates an inability to understand changes in the modern economy and second carries on an infuriating practice of doing no research getting most of his parliamentary responses wrong and behaving in a way that makes one wonder how he will get past the 2008 selection process. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Just answer the question. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: The answers have already been given. Will the microchip be required in respect of the golden age card? The answer has been advised to the member and everyone else: no the microchip will not be required on day one. [ 
Interruption 
] See there he is. The member is shouting out again and not waiting for the full answer. He did not raise the issue to get a full answer; he got up on his feet in just a vain attempt to maintain his position on the front bench. His being there is inexplicable to anyone who knows anything about how the National Party used to be. How he got there is beyond me. 
I tell members that on day one the microchip will not be required. As we have said the microchip will be needed only if seniors are to avail themselves of many of the benefits in the modern economy that are available only through microchip technology. The banks are already moving in that direction. Some will be there by the end of 2007. Banking is a major service industry. It is a major component in our economy. If the banks are going there then maybe we should be forward-thinking and visionary enough to provision elderly people to be there with them. 
For members to get up in this Chamber and start shouting about some sort of heinous Gestapo-like practice or Nazi-type behaviour— 
Judith Collins 
: He didn’t say that. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: That is what those members are saying on the stump—make no bones about it. Some members are even saying that the microchip will be embedded in the people themselves. Those members know full well that that is not true. There is a word for that; it starts with “h”. There is another explanation for it; that word starts with “l”. A bunch of mendacious sybarites is what I am talking about. The National members do not understand what that phrase means so they will not raise an objection to it. All these bright people in the National Party do not know what a mendacious sybarite is. That is why I can say it with no chance of anyone getting up and making a complaint. My colleague the ably qualified lawyer from the Hawke’s Bay understands what it means but most of those members like Judith Collins do not. 
Judith Collins 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I ask the member to translate his comment into one of our official languages—either Maori or English. 
Anne Tolley 
: Or New Zealand Sign Language. 
Judith Collins 
: Or New Zealand Sign Language sorry! 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: The word “mendacious” is actually English. It is derived from a Latin phrase—as is the other word. I am astonished that anyone who had any legal training at all would not know what either word meant. But together they mean that member and her colleagues.