Street Maryan: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Street Maryan: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 17 June 2009. Volume:655;Page:4375. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 A man who cannot manage his own caucus cannot manage the country and what we have seen in the Mt Albert by-election is a man who cannot manage his own caucus. How does a leader manage a caucus? A leader manages a caucus by demanding and giving loyalty. That is something New Zealanders understand. They understand that loyalty is a two-way effort. It is something that cuts both ways. If one expects loyalty one gives loyalty. 
New Zealanders do not expect team members to desert their own team members when they run into difficulty. So where was Mr Key? Where were Paula Bennett Judith Collins Steven Joyce Tim Groser Wayne Mapp and Murray McCully? I mention only National’s Auckland members. Where was Maurice Williamson? Where were the members of the Government’s executive who reside in Auckland? I mentioned only the Auckland-based ones. Where were they when Melissa Lee was subjected to that debacle and defeat on Saturday night? My heart went out to her because that is not what one should expect of one’s leader. As far as one could see the only senior members who were there were Pansy Wong and Jonathan Coleman. There were no senior Ministers present to support Melissa Lee. Where was Bill English? If the leader could not be there because he was on holiday why could the deputy leader not be there? Where was the party president? I have been through a difficult by-election as party president and it was absolutely imperative for me to be there at the time with our candidate to show loyalty and support and to give back some of what she gave us by standing in an unwinnable seat. That is no more and no less than should be expected of the leaders of a party. 
Steven Joyce for example refused to visit the electorate after previously promising TV3 that he would. Why did he not just simply pick up the phone and tell Melissa Lee—even if he was not going to tell Jonathan Coleman who should have read the Cabinet paper anyway—about the Waterview Connection instead of allowing her to walk blindfolded into the valley of Death as it turned out to be for her. What about some of the other Auckland members? Where were Jackie Blue Tau Henare Paul Hutchison or Allan Peachey? They are old-timers; some of them are second-termers but some of them are old-timers as well. Where were they? Were they in support of Melissa Lee? Where was Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga on the night? Perhaps he could not be there; perhaps he was at a council meeting. Where was Kanwaljit Bakshi? Was he there? Was Nikki Kaye there on the night? 
Nikki Kaye 
: Yes I was there! 
Hon MARYAN STREET 
: If she was then I commend her for that. But I say to Nikki Kaye that I am sorry; that is not good enough. Her party’s leaders should have been there. It is not good enough. Paula Bennett prides herself on representing the battlers from “Struggle Street”—a description of National’s candidate if ever I heard one. Where was she? Why was she not there providing some support? 
In the end Melissa Lee was hand-picked by John Key. She was chosen to begin the maiden speeches of the new cohort of 2008. When she started to stumble his support evaporated. It goes to the question of political management and the competence of the Prime Minister. Melissa Lee went into the by-election full of confidence but she discovered the hard way that politics is harder than she thought it looked. Comparably John Key has gone into the job of Prime Minister full of confidence but he is discovering daily that it is harder than it looked. The great gaps in his knowledge his ability and his instincts cannot be glossed over with a smile. I tell Mr Key that it takes more than a smile to run a country. The debacle of the loss—the profound drubbing—in Mt Albert that has been served up to National is a complete reflection on the leadership of the party.