Burton Mark: Address in Reply 
Burton Mark: Address in Reply 
[Volume:628;Page:409] 
Hon MARK BURTON (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I am pleased to join this debate. I say to the member who has just completed her maiden speech that it is great to hear her express the passion and the belief she has in the region she represents just as many other members have done in respect of their regions both in this debate and in their maiden speeches in the past. Of course although the member’s enthusiasm overshadowed the truth that I represent the most beautiful part of New Zealand I will concede that some of the finest pinot noir in New Zealand comes from within the boundaries of her electorate. I say to her: “Well done!” for an enthusiastic speech. 
I want to congratulate the many members who as part of this Address in Reply debate have in the last little while made their maiden speeches in this House. For all of us a maiden speech is a profoundly important speech. It is a time to set down the things we believe in the things we will be judged by—and believe me we are judged by them. Others refer to them from time to time to remind us of the fine ideals that brought us here. It is not a bad thing for each of us quite regularly to go back—as I do myself—to remind ourselves of some of the things that brought us to this House. 
I congratulate you Madam Assistant Speaker on your re-election to the position of a presiding officer. It is an important and a challenging role and I think you fulfil it with great dignity. Similarly I congratulate your co-associate Ross Robertson. I also congratulate Clem Simich on his election to the office of Deputy Speaker and the Hon Margaret Wilson on her re-election to the office of Speaker. I want to put on record my enormous confidence in all four of our presiding officers. I think that no other Parliament can be better served than this one in terms of the quality and integrity of its presiding officers and I thank them for their willingness to serve us. Our appreciation is not always as obvious as perhaps it is in our expressions during this particular debate. 
As I said I think that for all members our maiden speeches are a time for making our purpose in being here clear—to ourselves our constituents and our families. It is a time to acknowledge those who have supported us in coming here and a time perhaps to set down some challenges for the way ahead. The Address in Reply debate is of course also a debate in which we look to the leaders of parties to make their mark for the parliamentary term—to set down their platform if you will—and it should be a launching pad from which the members of each party can rally to their leader’s flag and be inspired for the term ahead. For the Labour Party that was certainly the case with a fine rousing speech from a Prime Minister who is returning for a historic third successive term and leading a strong a motivated and an active Government with much more to do. Before that it was Dr Don Brash’s turn. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: What happened to this member’s majority? 
Hon MARK BURTON 
: I tell Dr Smith that I am still here and I am still the member for Taupo. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: We’ll get you next time. 
Hon MARK BURTON 
: I tell Dr Smith that as a practitioner for many years of the martial art of aikido my sensei—my teacher—frequently reminded all of her students: “Close doesn’t count.” I am still here and I am still enormously privileged to be the servant of the people of the Taupo electorate. I say to Dr Smith that I will continue to serve them for as long as they give me that great honour. This is my fifth term. 
Hon Nanaia Mahuta 
: How many? 
Hon MARK BURTON 
: I have been returned for a fifth term as the representative of the people of that good electorate. For however long they choose to do that I will serve them with great honour and I regard it as a privilege. 
I want to return briefly to that utterly forgettable speech made by Dr Brash. I watched the eyes rolling. Of course many of the new members over there on the National benches had made inspiring speeches that were worth remembering. Then their leader got up and they were embarrassed. Their eyes rolled back in their heads. But not everybody was dismayed; a couple of back-benchers were not. That is the only point of difference I actually have with my leader on that speech. She mentioned that John Key looked very pleased. Well his benchmate on that day who is in the House at this time looked equally pleased with Dr Brash’s performance because those members are doing the numbers. 
Dr Nick Smith is in the business of making predictions today about how long the term will be and about how long I will be a member of Parliament. Well I have been written off by Dr Smith on more than one occasion. I will make him and this House a prediction: long before the 2 years that Dr Smith is talking about in relation to anyone’s term as an MP is up the term of the current tired and worn-out short-term leader of the National Party will be a matter of a small byline in the political history of New Zealand and the real fight that is already under way will have taken the National Party into meltdown. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: You can do better than this. 
Hon MARK BURTON 
: I say to Dr Smith that I have seen leadership change. I understand the dynamics of a party. 
I have to say that I like the senior Opposition whip. I like the senior Government whip too. Both members are very fine whips. I have a great respect for whips in this Parliament. I served as a senior whip for 3 years—and I see Eric Roy sitting back there; he has served in that capacity. Nobody who has served as a whip can have anything other than respect for those who carry out that role. I say to Lindsay Tisch that I think he has drawn the short straw because frankly having as many new members of a caucus as National has is by any measure a challenge on a good day. It is herding kittens on a good day. Let us be honest. When three or four contenders are lining up with their little clusters of supporters behind them and all of them are working day and night on the affections of the new MPs then I have every sympathy for the senior Opposition whip. We should all cut him a bit of slack. He will need a lot of moral support from members of the House. I know he can rely on all the former whips because we understand what the member is going through. 
But it is time to move on from Dr Brash’s speech because it was a particularly poor speech. It reflected the utterly depressing lack of any policy and any substance on the part of that once-great National Party. I was appalled during the election campaign in my previous role as the Minister of Defence—and I left that portfolio with great sadness and regret—to be going through that campaign with I think my fourth National Party opposite number as spokesperson on defence. There have been four of them in 6 years. After we went into the campaign we sat around the table with the defence spokespeople of the major parties for an intense interview with a very intelligent political editor from Radio New Zealand. I have to say that one or two of the other parties—and Ron Mark was there—had some policy. Ron Mark and I do not agree on everything in the area of defence but he had some policy. The New Zealand First Party had some policy and we debated it. When John Carter had his turn to contribute I felt sorry for him. I would have thought that all those preceding members of the National Party who had been its spokesperson on defence would leave him something to say. 
What was the policy of the National Party after 6 years in Opposition? What was it going to do if it became the Government on 17 September in that critical area of defence—the area it tells us is so important? Do members know what National was going to do? It was going to have a review. It was going to have a hui about defence. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: What’s Labour’s policy? 
Hon MARK BURTON 
: What this Government has done in 6 years I say to Dr Smith is to put in place a historic 10-year funding track. This is the first time in the history of the New Zealand Defence Force that it has had a long-term development plan. It has a long-term development plan across three united services. It has a 10-year funding plan so that defence managers can predict and plan with confidence the future of the New Zealand Defence Force. 
What was National’s answer to all that? What was National’s answer to the re-equipment of all three services? What was National’s answer to that multibillion dollar reinvestment in ships in— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Tell us about the man who destroyed it all. 
Hon MARK BURTON 
: I will tell Dr Smith about the man who as the Minister of Defence signed the contracts on multiple acquisitions. National was going to have a hui!