Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
[Volume:656;Page:5676] 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Leader of the House) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. How does one know the Labour Party is about to change its leader? It is simple: its members start to talk about having barbecues. Do members remember 1999? Phil Goff got 12 of his mates around to his place to have a barbecue to talk about chopping Helen Clark out and replacing her as Labour leader. Helen Clark was on 23 percent when Phil Goff thought that was a good idea; this week Phil Goff is on 6.5 percent. How did the Labour members react? They have put on their website a massive series of barbecues from one end of the country to the other over Labour weekend—not just one but a series of barbecues—where they will discuss whether Mr Goff should go or stay. I want to make a plea for Mr Goff to stay. I point out to the Labour Party that in the recent poll he made a bit of progress and at that rate of progress he will overtake John Key in the year 2024. So Labour should stick with him. 
When they have those barbecues one person I can guarantee will not be on the invitation list is Dover Samuels. He might have turned up with a bit of snapper but it would not have been fresh and there would have been a bit more lip. He said to Phil Goff and Annette King that it is time to step aside as the retreads have gone past their use-by date. He said they have a fundamental problem: right now the leadership does not resonate with ordinary people. He is not alone in thinking that. Mr Hipkins has put a piece of opinion on the blog site. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Who? Master Hipkins? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Some people might want to call him Master Hipkins but he is a member of this House. His name is Chris Hipkins. He is C Hipkins and the C of course stands for “Chippy”. Anyway he has put on his website that he expects that the high poll ratings for the National Party will continue for some time right throughout this parliamentary term. He said: “I would be very surprised if we make much of a dent in the poll gap before election year.” He has given up. He has bailed out. He is gone. 
So perhaps we have to take it seriously. Labour members have called for the nationwide barbecues. They are going to change the leader so where do they turn? Well there is Annette King. I want to say what a competent person Annette King is. She is perfectly capable of doing the job. Any old time they want to replace Phil Goff with Annette King that would be brilliant. Then of course there are the up-and-comers. We know David Cunliffe is not ready yet. He has to wait a little bit but I tell members that right across the blog sites they are confirming that David Cunliffe has one vote in the Labour caucus. We have spoken of Annette King. Then there is the extraordinary range of other people whom they are talking about. There is of course David Shearer the new man in the team. He has now asked one question in Parliament and has given one speech in Parliament and he has the same poll rating as Phil Goff. I say congratulations to David Shearer on doing a brilliant job. 
The other thing of course is that Laila Harré is out there as a potential leader. She is not even part of the Labour Party. She is one of the Alliance people who almost brought Labour down in 2002 but now Labour wants her back as leader. Then there is Andrew Little. He is not in Parliament yet. The sad thing is that Clayton Cosgrove is not there. I ask what is wrong with Clayton Cosgrove. But I have to say that I am not the first person to ask what is wrong with Clayton Cosgrove. He has said that the great thing now is that there is no factionalism in the Labour Party these days. He would know. In fact he is so committed to this “no factionalism in the Labour Party” that he has insisted the barbecues have a vegetarian option so that the lefties do not feel left out. 
This party is completely failing to get under the skin of the Government and to represent the people of New Zealand who would like a little bit of opposition to their Government. It is clinging to the idea that Phil Goff will somehow lift himself out of the fire he is currently in. I look forward to the barbecue season.