Turei Metiria: Urgent Debates — Hon John Banks—Ministerial ResignationText is subject to correctionTurei Metiria: Urgent Debates — Hon John Banks—Ministerial Resignation[Sitting date: 17 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14015. Text is subject to correction.]METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green):I moveThat the House take note of a matter of urgent public importance . Disgraced and discredited—this Government is disgraced and discredited having been so reckless as to lose yet another Minister this term; another Minister. Yes one is an accident. Two—well you might be able to justify two. But now it is three and possibly another being returned to having been disgraced again. This Government is fragile it is in tatters and we can see that being played out every day with the desperate measures that this Government is taking. John Key’s Government now relies on the votes on the support of two discredited and disgraced ex-Ministers John Banks and Peter Dunne.The Greens have been very clear from the start: as a result of the reasons behind this disgrace and the reasons behind why he has resigned as Minister John Banks must abstain from voting on National’s sordidSkycity deal—sordidSkycity deal. This conflict of interest is as bad as it ever gets.Hon Members: Sleazy deal.METIRIA TUREI: I would not be one to comment on that word.Skycity’s $400 million deal rests on John Banks’ vote. And John Banks’ future as an MP and as a member of this Parliament rests onSkycity’s evidence. There is a serious conflict of interest. John Key has said: “No nothing to see here.” Steven Joyce has confirmed that yet again today. And yet we know that there have been MPs who have rightly andresponsibly declined to vote for legislation concerning casino deals because they felt that they had a conflict of interest. This was because in that case they were receiving funding from a casino for various reasons. These MPs did the right thing by saying that they would not vote for this bill because they felt that the conflict of interest was too much. This is a statement of integrity. It is an action of integrity. But what is absolutely clear from this Government is that it has no integrity and neither does the disgraced and discredited John Key.The Government is now stumbling from crisis to crisis it has the thinnest of majorities and it is propped up by two lame duck members. New Zealanders are getting sick and tired of having a failed Government. The good news of course is that it is only a year or so until we get to vote this Government out and instead vote in a Green-Labour Government with a real plan for New Zealand.This of course is a very long story. We have to remember quite far back to get to the beginning of this which is interesting because of course it started with John Banks completely forgetting quite a bit at the time. He forgot the whole episode. Did he meet with people and seek donations from them? He could not remember. John Banks forgot. Did John Banks remember that he got a helicopter ride with Kim Dotcom? No he completely forgot about the helicopter ride. Did he remember the discussion about getting donations? No he completely forgot all about that. Did he remember about asking for the donations to be anonymous? No he had no idea. He completely forgot all about that. But then of course he did remember and was sure when signing off that he did not do anything wrong once he had finally remembered. He was sure that he had not done anything wrong in signing off his electoral expenses hence the situation he is currently in.How can this Minister have genuinely run successful businesses? And you know John Banks did. He spent two terms as the mayor of New Zealand’s biggest city he has been a Minister of the Crown and he has been an MP in this Parliament for many years but how could he have done all of those things credibly—and this is the important issue—knowing that his career and his credibility depended on his honesty? He has signed off on documents that have now led him to be in court on a charge of criminal fraud. There is an issue here of honesty an issue of credibility and that has had a very significant and very negative effect on this Government.The impact has also been felt by John Key. John Key who refused to read the police report concerning the case. John Key who was severe in his criticism of Helen Clark over the exercise of Taito Phillip Field’s vote. Some of us in this House may remember the criticism that John Key made. He demanded that she abandon the use of Taito Phillip Field’s vote while he was charged with and was undergoing the court proceedings—also criminal court proceedings—that eventually led to his imprisonment. John Key does not hold himself to the same standard that he requires of other MPs. He made demands of Helen Clark to force Taito Phillip Field to stand down to resign and to not exercise his vote because he was facing criminal charges. Now he finds himself in exactly the same position with a Minister—or an ex-Minister now because he has had to resign—but a member who props up his Government and whose proxy vote John Key and his MPs exercise and he is quite happy to continue to exercise that vote while that member is in court on criminal charges. There is a word for saying one thing and doing another. [Interruption ]The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Order!METIRIA TUREI: That is right. You are not allowed to say that word in this House—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Order!METIRIA TUREI: —but there is such a word. So the rot that we see in this case with John Banks now resigning as Minister and being subject to criminal fraud charges extends beyond just John Key to others in this Government.Nick Smith has now been accused of misleading the House over his involvement in suppressing the Department of Conservation’s very serious very real concerns about the environmental damage that might be caused by theRuataniwha dam. Hekia Parata has now twice been found to have acted outside the law—acted illegally—in her attempt to close schools and her own officials say that they need to find someone else someone trustworthy to try to sell national standards. Even Simon Bridges the man whom John Key calls “my boy” has had his own uncontrolled blowout on television this week. He did look a bit like he was going to cry and I did feel a bit sorry for him. He looked a little teary but he had his own uncontrolled blowout on TV this week as he tried desperately to defend the Government’s environmentally reckless and economically failed fossil fuels policy. He was standing up for Anadarko despite the concerns of theKaikōura community and showing absolutely no compassion for the people who will be most affected by the worst harms—standing up for a multinational corporation against all other odds.All this Government’s big ideas have been abject failures. Asset sales never made any sense and as the costs rise and revenue falls and as mums and dads steer clear of asset sales the case for selling these assets gets worse and worse. The Government should wait for the referendum on asset sales and should listen to New Zealanders who have consistently opposed asset sales. This is what it means to be a good Government: to listen to the people. This is what it means to be a democratic Government: to take account of people’s views and not just the views of those who are the elite not just the views of those who are the most wealthy and not just the views of those who can take the Prime Minister to dinner and bend his ear to get a $400 million deal.National standards and school closures are a mess. Hekia Parata is now so discredited that even her own officials are trying to find someone else to front her core policies.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Order! I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member but I would just ask members to show some courtesy to the member who is trying to address the House.METIRIA TUREI: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. National’s fossil fuel obsession is also so environmentally bankrupt. It is an economic failure. The jobs have not appeared. The promised rivers of gold are nowhere to be seen.I asked Steven Joyce today whether he thought that the deal that the Government is doing withSkycity which givesSkycity a $400 million deal that is paid for by increased gambling opportunities and that is reliant for its passing on the vote of a disgraced MP who has a serious conflict of interest in that deal was morally bankrupt and he does not think it is morally bankrupt. He does not think that there is a conflict of interest. He does not think that there is anything wrong when New Zealanders all around the country are emailing me all the time and saying that they are the ones who will bear the cost.We know that our family members go to the casino and spend money they do not have and they struggle and struggle and we cannot stop them doing it. We cannot get any help to stop them doing it. The casinos keep marketing to these families and we cannot make it stop. Allowing that to expand through thisSkycity deal is morally bankrupt. Allowing a casino to subvert the gambling law which absolutely prohibits any expansion in gambling is morally bankrupt. When it is an exchange for a deal withSkycity it cannot be justified.I think there is great disappointment in John Key and his Government and there is great disappointment in Steven Joyce for their failure to understand the consequences of the deal that they are doing. They are so desperate—so desperate—to see this deal go ahead. When John Key goes toSkycity and plays barman for a couple of hours you can see the cosy relationship that they have. They are so desperate to get this deal through to favourSkycity above the many thousands of families and the kids who suffer.We would expect more. We would expect so much more from this Government. We could have had so much more. But the Government is also doing it off the back of the vote from a disgraced MP who has a serious conflict of interest and it does not even have the decency to accept that it exists. Government members could have the decency to accept that the conflict exists and that they are not worried about it or they do not think it is so serious or they think that it is manageable. That would at least be honest. But to simply say that it does not exist is in my view completely dishonest. What makes it morally bankrupt is that at the end of the day it is ordinary New Zealand families who will bear the cost.New Zealanders deserve a Government that will legislate for their well-being for equality for a good life and for a fair future for their kids. This Government has failed at every step because every action it has taken through all the years that we have had this National Government has been to privilege the most privileged. We see the Government’s desperation to continue on that path with its refusal to even follow its own instructions to others that they do not exercise John Banks’ vote.We are very pleased that John Banks has resigned as Minister. This should have happened a year ago with the police report. It has come far too late. But it has come at a time when the significance of the vote that John Banks will exercise has the greatest impact with theSkycity deal. It is a dirty deal supported by a disgraced Minister and this is a dirty Government which is happy to push it through. Thank you.