Gallagher Martin: General Debate 
Gallagher Martin: General Debate 
[Volume:625;Page:20682] 
MARTIN GALLAGHER (Labour—Hamilton West) 
: 
 Listening to the previous contribution I was reminded of a song from my youth called “Let’s Do the Limbo Rock”. [ 
Interruption 
] No it is “Let’s Do the Limbo Rock”. I think the key words are: “How low can you go?”. They should be: “Let’s do the Hide rock. How low can you go? You can go as low as 2 percent.” 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Rodney could never do it. 
MARTIN GALLAGHER 
: Absolutely. [ 
Interruption 
] I was quoting to make the point about “Limbo Rock”. How low can the member go? He can go as low as 2 percent. That is why this morning’s  
New Zealand Herald 
—the august Auckland paper that serves my region—reported a serious move a desperate move to find a way for ACT to kick itself out of the 2 percent rating. People are saying: “John Banks come back! We weren’t happy with you at some conference—but hey if that is what it takes if you are our rescue package come back into the fold.” 
Let me tell members that Mr Banks will not settle for just list place No. 5 or No. 6. There is only one number Mr Banks wants on the ACT list and it is above two. It is the only number above two. We know what that number is. It is only a matter of time; it will be a formality. Believe me work is afoot to recruit him. At least Mr Banks unlike the previous speaker would add a bit of colour and zest to that particular failing party. 
The second amazing part of the pantomime on the Opposition benches was the  
New Zealand Herald 
 headline—the  
New Zealand Herald 
 which serves my region is quite an interesting paper—on Monday 16 May about Mr Winston Peters becoming Prime Minister. I assure my New Zealand First parliamentary colleagues that I am not saying that Doug Woolerton Bill Gudgeon and from my patch Barbara Stewart have suggested this scenario at all. I assure Mr Peters that their list positions should be in no danger at all. I do not think they had any role in this. I suggest that one of the journos Audrey Young—and she can never reveal her sources of course but I do not think she was talking to New Zealand First MPs—had been having a bit of a chat to some National Party MPs about the desperate scenarios they are looking at. I have always said to people that one can have Helen Clark or one can have the other fellow Dr Brash. I did not think that in fact Dr Brash would be deputy and Mr Peters would be leader. 
One of the reasons perhaps why those National Party MPs suggested that scenario is amply demonstrated by the recent foot-and-mouth scare. As a member for the Waikato region—obviously the foot-and-mouth scare affects not only the nation as a whole but also the key dairy industry export region in New Zealand the region I represent—I say that Mr Brash’s thinking that we should somehow have kept the foot-and-mouth scare hopefully a hoax secret was absolutely bizarre. Annabel Young a former MP and now chief executive of Federated Farmers said: “Even if you think it’s a hoax you still need to tell everybody because otherwise you’re in a kind of Chernobyl situation where people will never trust you again. So they do need to tell people about it even though they think it’s a hoax. They certainly can’t keep it a secret.” 
Tom Lambie the President of Federated Farmers stated: “We are also very pleased that the government has taken the decision to announce this probable hoax as soon as possible …”. Meat and Wool New Zealand stated: “The Government has acted promptly and responsibly in dealing with this issue including advising key industry participants in New Zealand and overseas.” Yes Dr Brash has his foot in his mouth over foot-and-mouth as I think has previously been said in this Chamber. And yes that is the reason why some members of the National Party who are beginning to get desperate and beginning to mourn the fact that they will spend another 3 years in Opposition are even touting the idea bizarre as it might sound of having Mr Peters as Prime Minister in some sort of rotation deal with Dr Brash. What that would do for stability I do not know.