Swain Paul: General Debate 
Swain Paul: General Debate 
[Volume:625;Page:20674] 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Labour) 
: 
 I wonder whether that flak jacket will end up on eBay along with New Zealand First’s policies. I want to say right from the start that more and more people are asking me what has happened to Don Brash. “Whatever happened to Don Brash?” people are saying. Where has he gone? He used to be the leader of the National Party. They have been asking me whether I remember that person. We should send out a search-and-rescue party for him. I hope he has some scroggin because the search-and-rescue party could be out for some time. 
The reason why people are saying that is the reason why he is disappearing absolutely in the polls. As the last Television One poll showed our Prime Minister—a Prime Minister who does know how to lead—has gone up 1 percent to 41 percent and the so-called Leader of the Opposition Don Brash has gone down 5 percent to 15 percent. He is in a permanent slide. The reason for that is that no one knows what he is on about. 
I take up a couple of the points that my colleague Phil Goff made about foot-and-mouth disease. The reality is that people could not believe what Don Brash said. It did not get sufficient coverage. He said: “I am surprised they made a public statement about it at all to be frank. If it’s only a hoax they have done a lot of damage to our reputation. I would have thought they would have tried harder to find out whether in fact there was any truth in the allegations at all.” 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Who said that? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: That was Don Brash the leader of the National Party. 
In the old days Federated Farmers and the National Party used to be linked but this is what Tom Lambie the president of Federated Farmers said: “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.” 
But that is not really the point. The point is that those things are what the newspapers and the commentators are saying. The  
Timaru Herald 
 stated: “A prime case of foot in mouth almost went unnoticed last week when National leader Don Brash suggested in a television interview that the Government should have kept the foot-and-mouth scare a secret. Remarkable. Has Dr Brash no idea what is at stake for New Zealand if there is even a hint that we are not up with the play when it comes to such outbreaks even if they are subsequently shown to be hoaxes?”. The  
Dominion Post  
awarded that particular leader the “Wally of the Week” award by asking: “Did he really think the Government could have kept secret a foot-and-mouth threat while at the same time quarantining a busy island off the coast of New Zealand’s biggest city?”. 
That is why the leader of the National Party is down to 15 percent in the polls. That is why he has no support out there from the general public of New Zealand. That is why the National Party is divided over who should lead it as it goes into the next election. We can see it from over here on the Government side. We watch the groups over there on the Opposition side as they chat plot and talk. They know that this bloke ain’t gonna do it for them and they do not know whether to go with him till the end and then sort it out afterwards or to have a desperate effort beforehand. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: They want Winston! 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Well of course that is the issue; now there is some talk about whether the National Party should join up with Winston Peters. Mr Brash once said back in 2003 that he would work with Winston Peters. Indeed he said that he would work with the devil to get rid of this Government. But now just a little while ago he has said that National members will not sell their souls just to get into office and that they certainly will not be offering the leadership of the next Government as a bargaining chip. 
So the real problem is that no one knows what Don Brash is actually talking about. When he says something no one knows whether he actually means it. That is true of whatever he says. Do members remember the issue of 4 weeks’ annual leave? That was going to go—by lunchtime—but now it is back. What about superannuation? Dr Brash said that the “Cullen fund” was an outrage but now National thinks it will keep with it. And what about being nuclear-free? He said that if National were in Government today it would get rid of the ban on nuclear propulsion by lunchtime. Do members remember that? Now that party is going to keep it.