King Annette: General Debate 
King Annette: General Debate 
[Volume:631;Page:2925] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of State Services) 
: 
 If I had time I would rush across with my hanky so I could wipe the member’s chin. I suggest that he take a little time out wipe it off and clean himself up. He got very agitated during that speech. He said that Phil Goff has a lot in common with Winston Peters. Well I have to tell Nick Smith that he does not have a lot in common with members in this House because he is the only member in this House to be found guilty of contempt of court. He is the master of leaks. His leaks are usually in pursuit of publicity for himself. He is well known for it. 
“At some point National MPs will start asking: ‘If you can’t use your leader in the House and you can’t get him to front a press conference when can you use him?’ ”. That was the penultimate sentence from the political editor in a  
Dominion Post  
story today and it is the question that is being asked by National front-benchers and back-benchers. I could add to that list of questions that ought to be asked so I will add a couple more: “What do you do when your leader can’t remember who he talked to and what he said to them?” and: “What do you do if your leader says one thing in private and is less than honest in public?”. 
I think we ought to go through those questions and see whether we can give the members opposite some answers. What can they do if they cannot use their leader in the House? We know that is true—they cannot use Don Brash in Parliament any more. He is here about one day a week. He makes a fleeting appearance and then shoots out of here so fast that one would think he was being chased by somebody. Murray McCully said that Don Brash has gone to Washington. Yes Don Brash has gone to Washington. He would rather go anywhere than be here in this Parliament. He would rather be in Picton. He would rather make a speech to a regional conference. He would rather be at home writing that speech than be in Parliament where he can be accountable and can front up to this Government and take us on. Every time Dr Brash does stand up in this Parliament National’s stocks go down. He bumbles he mumbles he stumbles and he even fumbles and then he grumbles that nobody listens to him and the back-bench members cringe and crumble. He is permanently AWOL from this Parliament. He would prefer as I said to be anywhere other than fronting up in this House. So that is why members opposite have to ask the question of what they do when their leader cannot front up in Parliament. 
As to the second question about getting a leader to front a press conference I have to say that one of the bread and butter jobs of a politician is to be able to front up to the media. National members rolled out their leader on a big day when they had to front up to the fact that there was a leak within their own caucus—somebody in their own party is leaking emails to Winston Peters their old enemy. Someone—probably Gerry Brownlee—is leaking emails straight to Winston Peters. 
So Dr Brash rocked up for the hastily called press conference. I agree with Phil Goff that it was a set-up by the National Party members. They were not there to support Dr Brash. They shoved him in the room. He fumbled and bumbled his way up to the microphone wondering what it was all about and looking as though he was a possum caught in headlights. Then he asked: “Now where is the email?”. He had to ask Guyon Espiner to hand him the email. So he was handed the email and he hastily read it and said: “Ooh! You’re quite right. I quite frankly forgot the fact that they were there.” This was the man whom National had sent out to fix the problem. He forgot. [ 
Interruption 
] I will table the transcript for Mr Key. He said that was rubbish—well here is the transcript. 
Dr Brash did not have the email. He called the press conference to explain the email. He forgot about the email. He did not have the email. Do members know something? Dr Brash forgot why he was there. He did not know why he was having a press conference. That is why National members cannot send him out to have a press conference. He embarrasses his minders. It generally looks like his next career will be as an undertaker. That is what it looks like. 
Now I will talk about the third question. What if leaders cannot remember who they talked to and what they said? Well we know that is true—Don Brash cannot remember. His memory lapses are so long now and they are growing by the day. What will members opposite do with him? They will get rid of him. He is gone. He is a “dead man walking”.