Scott Lynda: General Debates 
Scott Lynda: General Debates 
[Volume:610;Page:7924] 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT (NZ National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 What a terrible speech that was. When people from Hawke’s Bay write to me about the health system all that they talk about is that they cannot get their hips knees or hernias fixed. One nurse who has worked at the hospital for years cannot get a truss. They are not made any more because in every modern society except for New Zealand people have operations to fix their hernias—but not under this Government. One cannot get a hernia fixed any more. 
That was a terrible speech. The member talked about people welcoming the primary health organisations but people do not even have any idea as to what a primary health organisation is. People have no idea about enrolment; they do not know what the member is even talking about. But one thing that people do know is that their doctors will leave because they absolutely hate that system. The member then went on to talk about education but not once did he mention educational achievement excellence or kids doing well in New Zealand society. No he talked about conformity and about everybody being the same. What a hopeless member he is! 
Last Friday we had 300 people turn up in Blenheim packing out the Wesley Centre where there was standing room only. Why did they come? They came to hear the Hon Bill English because they know that Bill English has a message for them which is that there will be no deals on the ownership of the foreshore and seabed. The title to those areas belongs to the Crown and not to anybody else and this Government should have done something about it. It did something about minerals; it came out straight away and said that minerals belong to the Crown. Everybody was given certainty about that and there was no fuss or bother so why did the Government not do the same with regard to the seabed issue? It said initially that it would but Helen Clark and her Government have backed off that ever since. The Government has backed right off behind closed doors shutting the public out. 
The people of Marlborough want to know that the seabed and foreshore will remain in the ownership of the Crown and that people will have access to them. I grew up in the Marlborough Sounds and I think everybody should have the right to be able to pull up a kayak on a beach and to go fishing. The Crown should own the title to the foreshore and the seabed. 
People have had enough of this Government and its spin. I call it the “Tamihere principle” whereby one moves the decimal point. That is now a symbol of Government spin and it is absolutely appalling. John Tamihere tried to cloud the issue. He tried to tell us that a whole lot of the foreshore and seabed was in private hands but he made that up. He had no facts to back that up because the amount of foreshore and seabed that is in private hands is about less than 1 percent. That member has been backing down in this House ever since he said that but he will not stand up like a man and say he got it wrong. He just obfuscates the issue the whole time. 
People say to me that Australia looks pretty attractive. People in Australia do not say they are Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal; they say they are Australians. I am proud to be a New Zealander and I want New Zealanders to say they are proud to be New Zealanders no matter what their race or ethnic background may be. Kath Hemi said to us at that meeting in Blenheim: “We are one country but two different peoples; I am black and you are white.” But there are actually more than two different peoples in this country. There are masses of different people in this country from different ethnic backgrounds and political persuasions. We are all New Zealanders and that is what is important. We need to concentrate on that. 
In order to all be New Zealanders we have to have one standard of citizenship and that is what National and Bill English stand for. We need to have one standard of citizenship under the law. I am proud to be a New Zealander so I want everybody to understand we stand for that. National has gone all around New Zealand standing up for one standard of citizenship and that is why we had 300 people in that hall—we could not fit any more in; it was packed out to the gunwales. It was a really serious debate on the issues. People came to hear us talk about who owns the seabed and the foreshore and that has to be the Crown. People need to have the uncertainty removed.