Mallard Trevor: General Debate 
Mallard Trevor: General Debate 
[Volume:633;Page:5215] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister for Economic Development) 
: 
 Well— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Mr Gutter. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: We hear about the gutter from Nick Smith—the person who rolls in every gutter that is going as well as in a few other places. [ 
Interruption 
] Shall we move along to that member Bill English who is allegedly a person of great integrity. I ask Bill English for a bit of balance. If I were picking a leader for the National Party—the person with the most integrity on the National front bench—I would pick Bill English. But Bill English is the person who authorised over half a million dollars of parliamentary expenditure in 2002 on billboards pamphlets and cards all of which were outside the rules according to the current ruling of the Auditor-General. 
Now I do not agree with the Auditor-General. He has not made a final ruling but I disagree with his interim one. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: What about the Solicitor-General? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I actually think the Solicitor-General is closer to it. If the Solicitor-General is right then the airfares that that member used to go to and from Nelson during the campaign in order to make speeches—[ 
Interruption 
] The member did not use airfares to go to and from Nelson during the campaign? If the Solicitor-General is right then those airfares should not have been paid for by the taxpayer. So we know there is a dilemma; there is a bit of a debate to be had. 
I go back to a comment that I made in the House quite early this afternoon and that is that members on this side value their integrity. Members on this side have had a gutsful of comments made by members opposite; we have had an absolute gutsful. What we are saying is a comment that has been made on a regular basis in this Parliament and if members opposite or National Party members outside tell lies about us we will tell the truth about them. 
One of the things generally known in this House is that some things are off-limits and some things are inappropriate but when members opposite cast aspersions on our core values such as on members’ integrity then those rules do not count any more. I am telling members opposite that they have a clear choice to make. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: You cheated. Come clean! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Clearly members opposite especially Nick Smith— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: More threats! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Clearly Nick Smith who talks about threats should think about who he has threatened recently. I ask him to think very carefully about the husband whom he threatened recently— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Go on! Say the name. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: No I am not going into any further details but Nick Smith needs to think about whether he wants to deny that as he just did—whether he wants to get up in the House at the end of this speech and totally deny it. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The expert at gutter politics has alleged that I threatened a husband—of which there are probably about 1.6 million in New Zealand. I assure the House that I have not threatened any person. I just think the member needs to be brought back to order. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Thank you Mr Smith. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I am pleased that that is on the record because what that means in my opinion—and it will take a little while to get the affidavits—is that the member has gone for breach of privilege. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member cannot allege breach of privilege on the floor—that must be put in writing. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Thank you. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Withdraw and apologise. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: No there is no requirement to withdraw and apologise. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member has acknowledged that he said the wrong thing. He will withdraw. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I withdraw. [ 
Interruption 
] 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: He has withdrawn. I call the— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: And apologise. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: No. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: You can’t tell the Speaker what to do. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I tell Mr Burton that we are demanding that the Speaker require an apology. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: You can’t demand that of the Speaker. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Well we are and if the member does not like it he can go and— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member will be seated. This is a point of order and it is between the Speaker and the member taking the point of order; it is not to criss-cross back and forth across the House. The Speaker has a number of alternatives available: one is to ask a member to desist another is to ask for a comment to be withdrawn and another is to ask for a withdrawal and apology. I have decided that Mr Mallard will withdraw and there the matter ends. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: The next point— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I have made a ruling Mr Brownlee. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: It only ends Mr Assistant Speaker if this side of the House has decided not to take offence at the absolute guttersnipe approach of Mr Mallard. And we have not. We do take offence at that and Mr Mallard needs to know that if he persists along this line if he refuses to back off if he refuses to apologise then subsequent speakers may cause him quite a problem. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Thank you Mr Brownlee. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well it may just be that we are getting close. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Have you decided not to rule on the issue I have just raised with you—[ 
Interruption 
]—and just simply to ignore it? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: No I did not ignore it. I asked the member to withdraw the comment for alleging the breach of privilege but if the member himself takes exception to it then that is a different matter. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I have two points of order. The first is that during Gerry Brownlee’s point of order Jill Pettis screamed out and it is a very clear offence to interject during a point of order. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Are you asking for an apology? 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: No. The first point I raise is that during Mr Gerry Brownlee’s point of order every member of the House heard Jill Pettis scream out. She is nodding her head and agreeing that that occurred. If a member interjects during a point of order then that is a breach that requires the member to leave the House 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I ask the member to stand withdraw and apologise. 
Jill Pettis 
: I withdraw and apologise. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. During an earlier point of order of Gerry Brownlee Nick Smith interjected. I ask that you require the same of him. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: If the member did that then I ask him to withdraw and apologise. [ 
Interruption 
] He did not? Well then I have to take the member at his word. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Oh come on! 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: All members are honourable members. Their word is their bond.