Wagner Nicky: General Debate 
Wagner Nicky: General Debate 
[Volume:648;Page:16911] 
NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 After 9 long years Labour is absolutely out of touch with all the New Zealand people. There has been too much emphasis on public relations. There has been too much spin and too much of “It’s all about me.” Ordinary Kiwis in the street are not interested in spin; they think they are being manipulated. They are not interested in public relations; they think it is a waste of taxpayers’ money. They do not think that life should be all about the politicians; they think it should be about the people. 
The Maori proverb is right: He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata he tangata he tangata. What is the most important thing in the world? It is people it is people it is people. New Zealand belongs to the people. It is the people who do the work it is the people who pay the bills and it is the people who contribute in every possible way. Government should be all about respecting and serving the people but that is not the case with this Labour Government. 
The know-it-all Labour Government shuts its ears to the people. Although Parliament is designed to encourage the voice of voters Labour shuts it down as much as possible. On select committees the Government controls the process so that submitters who do not support the Government position are inconvenienced and time-limited. Submitters against the Government stance on the Real Estate Agents Bill the Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill and the Electoral Finance Bill have complained bitterly about their treatment. 
The know-it-all Government shuts its ears to the people. Parliament allows for citizens initiated referenda but to qualify for one there is a high threshold: 10 percent of the voting public need to support it. In the case of the petition relating to the anti-smacking legislation hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders have gone to the trouble to sign and that petition has been presented to Parliament. But Helen Clark with ears firmly closed claims that it is too late to run a referendum alongside the general election. That is outrageous nonsense and an arrogant manipulation of the truth. In 1999 the National Government took only a week to determine that Norm Withers’ petition for a referendum on violent crime could be held on election day—only 1 week! National listened to the people so why can Labour not do so? 
The know-it-all Labour Government shuts its ears to the people. An election is a time when voters can learn about political parties their people and their policies. It is a time to appraise options and to understand individual parties and their visions for the future. It is a time for engagement for talk for debate and for a free flow of information and opinion. Labour’s Electoral Finance Act is designed to shut that down. The bill was so rushed the provisions were so complex and the penalties were so draconian that no one knows how to manage it. 
The Electoral Finance Act has scared off the public—they will not have a say. Why would they get involved? The Electoral Finance Act has paralysed legitimate contributors to the process who need to have a say and it puts all politicians who have to work under its rules at risk. The rules change by the day. No one knows what the detail means. Ironically it is the Labour MPs who are mostly breaking the law but all MPs run the risk of acting illegally. 
Labour is a tired old and cranky Government. Its MPs are indulged and arrogant. Not only have they forgotten that it is their job to listen to the voting public but worse they are trying to reconfigure the parliamentary process so that the public cannot be heard. Labour must not be allowed to deny democracy.