Benson-Pope David: General Debates 
Benson-Pope David: General Debates 
[Volume:607;Page:4428] 
DAVID BENSON-POPE (NZ Labour—Dunedin South) 
: 
 As many members will know and as members of the New Zealand community already know: “‘National’s problems started much earlier than losing last year’s election.’ Clutha Southland MP Bill English told the National Party Balclutha branch annual meeting on Thursday night.” Bill English said: “There was a smell that came across the party early in the 90s ... too focused on the dollars not worried enough about the people who were missing out.” He went on: “The party had never been ahead of the non-National vote since 1996 and as the 1999 election loomed its party members seemed unable to change tack. ... The centre left now had 60 percent of the majority and Labour was expecting to run five or six terms”— 
Simon Power 
: This is embarrassing. 
DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I say to Mr Power and Mr Brownlee that Mr English did not say “two or three”; he said “five or six terms in power”. The article continues: “His address to the party faithful on Thursday centred on winning back the punters and stopping the party decline.” I quote Mr English: “The groups which vote for us are the ones who are shrinking fastest. We lose 1.5 seats each election just on demographics alone. The new voters will be young and brown. If we’re not getting their vote we’re not going to get into Parliament.” Mr English said the young preferred to vote for smaller parties. He is certainly providing a National Party like that! He added that it was the same with the old and that only one in four older people had voted National. I again quote Bill English: “It’s a legacy of the mistrust older people now have for National ... If you decide you’ve been let down it’s harder to change your mind. ... There’s a perception that rich people vote National and it’s true. I hate that. It would do us good to drive some of those people away.” The article goes on: “Only 10 percent of New Zealanders earn more than $60000 while 1 million earn more than $30000.” The source of those comments was a report in the  
Southland Times 
 not last Thursday but 3 years ago. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am aware that the member on his feet is a new member. I wonder whether it would be worthwhile for the Chair to point out that the general debate is an occasion on which a member might express his or her own views rather than simply quote others’ views. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: That is not a point of order. While I am speaking I point out that I have already counselled members to exercise restraint because of the 5-minute speeches. 
DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I thank Mr Brownlee for such an apt demonstration of his vacuousness. The source of the document was the  
Southland Times 
 3 years ago. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Are you going to allow that member to make those insults unchecked? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member cannot comment on points of order. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: When he resumed his feet he made some statements that were quite unparliamentary and if you allow that to pass without a withdrawal and an apology then clearly the rules have changed. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I say to the member that he should not have commented on the point of order and I ask him to withdraw. 
DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I withdraw. Those quotations from Mr English the short-term leader of the National Party were from a source published 3 years ago. 
I cannot and the community cannot imagine a more powerful demonstration of the catastrophic failure of the National Party and of that leader that 3 years ago he warned his “former” rural heartland electorate of Balclutha—and those failed members over there—where the party was failing. Three years on what has the National Party done? Nothing! It has no policy and no leadership. Even Winston Peters is heading the leader of the National Party in the polls at the moment. 
Compared with that failure that vacuousness what has the Government offered over that period to the people of this country? It has offered a record of achievement. In the last 3-plus years we have had the strong leadership and the stable Government this country has been asking for. We have the firmest of platforms on which to build for the future. In the last 6 months alone we have made major improvements to primary health-care. Already the primary health organisations have signed up 500000 New Zealanders and a further 25 primary health organisations will be operating by the start of next month. That will mean 1.4 million New Zealanders enrolled in better health-care. 
We have a growing economy and an increase in economic activity. There are more people in real jobs and 15500 fewer people on the unemployment benefit than there were a year ago. There are almost 120000 more jobs than there were in December 1999. We have had a fairer deal introduced for victims. We know how welcomed the Victims’ Rights Act has been by members of the community. We have cut the costs of tertiary education to consumers and in the compulsory education sector the Government is funding more than 700 extra teaching positions this year alone. As further testimony to that commitment to our future we have expanded opportunities for young people with another 6000 Modern Apprenticeships.