Carter Chris: General Debates 
Carter Chris: General Debates 
[Volume:607;Page:4211] 
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister of Conservation) 
: 
 After listening to that member I again thank the good fortune of this Government to have such an Opposition. I tell this House that I support Bill English. I think he is a great leader of the National Party— 
Simon Power 
: What’s this member doing about dogs? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: Unlike Mr Power Mr Brownlee and perhaps Mr Smith who sit opposite me in the House today I think the Leader of the Opposition is doing a great job—as of course is his front bench. I would like to share with members why I think Mr English is doing a fantastic job. I love his inconsistency. 
I love his diversity and wide-ranging views on issues. Let us take Iraq. It is an issue that is No. 1 in the House at the moment for obvious reasons. What is Mr English’s view on Iraq? Last week he and the National Party supported a UN resolution to take action. Yes that was last week. But yesterday it had all changed and he was for unilateral action. What about troops? Yesterday New Zealand troops should go to Iraq according to Mr English. What did he say on  
Morning Report 
 this morning? He said that he was not sure whether they should go. Is that not great? 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Flip-flop. 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: It is a case of “Mr Flip-Flop”. He makes politics so interesting. It reminds me of his fascinating observations about Afghanistan and Operation Enduring Freedom. We might remember that just before Christmas Mr English the leader of the National Party a party that had supported Operation Enduring Freedom called for the withdrawal of New Zealand troops participating in that action—one that the Government strongly supported—but of course within 24 hours he flip-flopped again. He was again in favour of Operation Enduring Freedom. 
What about the Treaty of Waitangi? Recently I attended the gathering at Waitangi as some members of this House might remember. Although my singing ability might not have been wonderful at least I was consistent while I was there. I called for people to work together to build a better future. What about Mr English? He told us in the  
New Zealand Herald  
on the morning of Waitangi Day that he would go there to give a serve at Te Tii Marae. He would tell off those people for not letting non-Maori media on to the marae. I sat there along with my colleague Darren Hughes the Hon Margaret Wilson and a few other MPs and we waited with a little bit of trepidation because there were some pretty radical people sitting on that marae. We all waited and Mr English got to his feet gave a very creditable mihi thanked the people for their welcome and praised the Treaty of Waitangi—but he did not mention anything about journalists not being allowed on to the marae. He also did not talk about the treaty creating two types of citizenship or some of the other issues that we have heard from him in this House. 
I enjoyed reading later that day the opinion piece that Mr Gerry Brownlee had written on the treaty. At least Mr Brownlee had some consistency and some logic to his argument. It was not one that I agreed with but at least it was consistent. I think Mr Brownlee has stuck to those points unlike his leader of course who seemed to be absolutely mesmerised by the welcome he had received at Te Tii Marae. He was very charming and welcoming to the people and I am sure he left a very favourable impression with the Harawira family—not one of course that he had led the people of New Zealand the public who read the  
New Zealand Herald 
 to expect. It was pathetic! 
I was reminded too that Mr English had said before Christmas that he would lead a crusade against the Local Government Bill. I as the Minister of Local Government had the privilege of seeing that bill through this House—[ 
Interruption 
] The crusade? Well I am afraid the crusade was rather a fizzer. It was something that had never been mentioned once during the election campaign mid-year. Once again it was a case of Mr English talking tough but doing nothing. I am pleased to say that the Local Government Bill passed before Christmas just as the Government had said it would. 
My colleague Mr Barker spoke earlier about the sleaze in which the ACT party is being mired. ACT has a real opportunity because the National Party has been pathetic—hopeless. That has been well recorded in the media by journalists whom one would not normally think sympathetic to the Government but all and sundry in this country have been saying how pathetic the National Party is. Who could argue with them? ACT has an opportunity but it is mired in sleaze as Mr Barker has pointed out. We have had the charming ACT party congress that occurred last weekend. I sort of thought of it as the ninth party congress a rather Stalinist event where Mr Rufus Dawe an old veteran of World War 11 got up and tried to challenge the party line on involvement in the war in Iraq. He was howled down called a pig insulted and so on. I thought it was very reminiscent of actions in the Auckland Central electorate when Mr Prebble was its MP.