Jones Shane: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Jones Shane: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:637;Page:7380] 
SHANE JONES (Labour) 
: 
 In contrast to what we have just heard lucidity will now follow. Firstly let me acknowledge the sterling contribution and the tauira as we say in Maori that Georgina Beyer has made in the period of time she has graced this House. The speech she gave earlier today was very gracious and much to her credit she was able to identify the people from the Wairarapa and various other areas who have helped her. She identified people from different minority groups and that I think speaks volumes about the role she sought to play and the example she sought to set in enriching the qualities of this House. Of course it could be done only through our party. 
The Prime Minister’s speech has been the subject of considerable envy ill-conceived remarks and petty politicking from the other side which is inevitable given that her speech focused on strategy and content. Despite the fact that the Opposition caucus dashed off to Poverty Bay impoverishing their minds no doubt with idle talk surfing inflicting themselves upon the local businesses etc. wanting wine that they were not prepared to pay for and all those sorts of antics they have come back with a problem that reminds me of two Balkan States forced to work together. But there is no United Nations that can exercise governance or leadership between the brooding angry sullen and deeply morose Mr English and the somewhat amiable winsome Mr Key who is wandering around trying to spread goodwill around the country in the form of a little girl called Aroha. 
The Ngapuhikaumatua said to Mr Key when he came to Waitangi: “When you come here we know that you follow the footsteps of Don Brash and although your language may have changed your intent is no different.” In the days of our ancestors they had Pakeha pets—missionaries gunsmiths—and all the chiefs had their various supporters in the fledgling Pakeha community. The kaumatua said to John Key: “You come to us bearing ill will towards the Treaty and you do us a great disservice by bringing with you one of our mokopuna as if she is a Maori pet.” That was a very low point. Although I am not always in agreement with my whanaunga Hone Harawira I thought that his comment was very apposite. People like John Key are very quick not to want to embroil their own children in politics so do not take one of our mokopuna into the front line of some of the most hectic frenzied and angry demonstrations of race relations politics in Aotearoa. 
However on with matters of the Prime Minister’s speech. We do not propose to take a single blind bit of notice of what is said on the other side by Nick Smith and others about climate change and environmental policy. There is not a single instance since the 1980s where a bold cogent and courageous statement or initiative has been delivered upon by that party in relation to the environment. The most wide-ranging decisive changes to our planning laws were not the work of Simon Upton although he fiddled with them and weakened them. That environment legislation which was put forward in an attempt to advance the notion of sustainability in the late 1980s and early 1990s was the work of Geoffrey Palmer. Therefore we cannot grant Opposition speakers one shred of credibility because there is no evidence that they have either ideas they can deliver on or examples or initiatives that their constituency will embrace. 
Let us focus on some of the important things that were done last year. Within 1 year of the Prime Minister identifying telecommunications as a key area requiring reform the deal was done. Within 1 year a problem that has afflicted us for many generations was dealt to successfully in the form of the KiwiSaver scheme. Not a single feature in the rhetoric from the other side of the House explained how those members would deal with these problems other than some lame excuse that in the unlikely event—and I do stress unlikely—they should ever grace this side of the House they will contemplate maintaining our policies. 
We have just heard a lot of twaddle from the previous speaker in relation to housing but members opposite overlook the fact that not only does our policy enable savers to develop a deposit and contribute towards a new house but also that two elements comprise the Budget Policy Statement that will have a very positive impact on housing. First is the capital acquisition of valuable land in west Auckland and second is an overdue and very thoughtful review that is being carried out in relation to the accommodation supplement. Those are the practical things that this side of the House is engaged in. So members will excuse us if we continue to focus on the real game on that side which is the Balkanisation of their leadership in the absence of any content or any ideas that will stir the imagination of the community. 
Let us talk about our investment in skills in the workforce. One thing that really puzzles me is how members on the other side of the House continue to talk about our people going to Australia. Yet other than shrinking the State slashing taxes and shrinking the size of social expenditure we hear no actual strategy in relation to investing in our people other than that if we reduce wages we will bring more people into the workforce. But it is the low level of wages which they constantly talk about that is driving our people over to Australia. We have considerably larger numbers of Modern Apprentices and they are very important to the people to whom I belong our Tai Tokerau iwi. It was in the 1990s that the apprenticeship scheme the whole development strategy of human capital was smashed and not a single member is prepared to— 
Steve Chadwick 
: Who by? 
SHANE JONES 
: Obviously by the party on that side of the House. Those greying dimmed minds might have largely gone but the content of their thinking lives on in younger minds that are not discriminating—younger minds that are not confident to move completely away from those failed policies because they know that the forces the book  
The Hollow Men 
 talks about will still drive their key thinking. 
The issues of apprenticeships etc. are very important in relation to the development of the Tai Tokerau iwi. In contrast to this type of thinking Maori Party members—and they must not escape my attention—come to this House never saying a charitable word about their own people who are engaged in the Treaty settlement process and never able to stand up and offer a credible alternative. In fact they either say nothing sit on the fence or say very destructive things about the kaumatua who are advancing the settlement of the claims such as the leaders of the Arawa tribe in relation to the lakes settlement. 
The first thing I saw when I came back earlier this year and opened the  
Dominion Post  
was that one of the worst critics who attacks his own kaumatua and undermines the integrity of their leadership in the media Mr Te Ururoa Flavell had put up his hand to run the very trust that had been formed to organise coordinate and generate profit from the Arawa lakes. I am not entirely sure how one would describe that without falling foul of the rules of Parliament but I say to Maori Party members: “Don’t come to this House without the courage to support people who are making difficult decisions. Then after they have been made and you have sought to belittle them in this House don’t run home put your name in for election and want to run it after the good work that your kaumatua have done obviously with our side the Government.” I shall say more about that at a later date. 
We are looking forward to the debate and advancing the elements that comprised the Prime Minister’s speech especially in the area of environmental planning and environmental initiatives. We are surfing a wave there and we are setting an agenda. We know that to make progress in politics one must set an agenda. There is no agenda coming from members opposite other than negativity and belittling comments that are an attempt to obfuscate the Balkanisation of their own leadership. Kia ora tatou.