Brown Peter: Adjournment 
Brown Peter: Adjournment 
[Volume:627;Page:22369] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I want to carry on where Dr Don Brash left off because he has raised some points of considerable concern to New Zealand First. But first of all I take this opportunity on behalf of my colleagues to thank all the parliamentary staff. They have done an excellent job for all MPs. We are very impressed with them—not only with their competence and their attitude to work but also with their friendly disposition under sometimes very difficult circumstances. So we would like to offer our thanks to all the people who work in the parliamentary complex and that includes you Madam Speaker. We recognise that in the short time you have been in the job it has not been terribly easy for you and on behalf of New Zealand First I would like to offer our compliments. 
Dr Brash if I heard him correctly—I will give him the benefit of the doubt—accused people of lying. That concerns me because I know that National Party MPs are saying that the seabed and foreshore legislation is not in favour of all New Zealanders. We helped the Government to produce legislation that is in favour of all New Zealanders and there should be no doubt about that. Further I heard today—and maybe the National Party colleagues would like to confirm this—that a candidate in Hamilton told an audience that he or she would give tax cuts by increasing GST. I ask National members whether that is true. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: It was the Green candidate. 
PETER BROWN 
: They had better sort something out. 
In April this year in my own patch I was a guest—as were all the spokespeople on transport—at the New Zealand Automobile Association conference in Napier— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Did you hear it yourself? 
PETER BROWN 
: I heard this myself. Dr Don Brash gave a speech to the conference in the early afternoon. This is what he said and it is a direct quote from his speech: “In the late nineties the last National Government lifted road spending to a little over 1.0% of GDP by starting a process to move more petrol tax out of the consolidated fund into the road fund.” That would not have occurred without New Zealand First and Bill Birch is on record as saying: “Over my dead body.” We were there. But it gets worse. Dr Brash said: “At that time—1998—we said that as circumstances allowed more transfers would be made.” New Zealand First alone said that. Dr Brash continued: “Labour came in and stopped the process.” That is not true. It was stopped in the 1999 Budget by Bill Birch and I am absolutely correct on that. When I confronted the leader of the National Party in the foyer of the auditorium immediately afterwards he said: “I don’t know; I wasn’t there.” Those were his exact words. 
For the remainder of my speech I want to give a bit of advice to all parliamentarians and all parties. I say to National that if it wants to take policies from New Zealand First we are quite flattered but it should at least acknowledge it. It has taken large segments of our law and order policy large segments of our Treaty of Waitangi policy and large segments of our road funding policy. I have here the  
Hansard 
 of Maurice Williamson from 1995 when he spoke on a Winston Peters bill about shifting money from the consolidated account to the roading account. I have his quotes here and they do not bear any resemblance to what he is currently saying. 
I say to the Government members over there that they are doing very very well with the “Cullen fund”. It has had a 14 percent return. I say to those members that they should invest some of it in their own country and let this country get ahead. They might not get the 14 percent return but they will get the tax take from getting the country moving again—literally moving. The Minister got it half right by going to Tauranga and saying he would fund the Harbour Link project in part but he should be funding it all. Those members over there who know anything about roading and road funding know that I am absolutely on the ball on that. That should be funded from the roading account. I say to the Labour members over there that they should use some of that money in the “Cullen fund” to invest in this country and we would all be better off. I think that Clayton Cosgrove has the message; I think he was giving me the thumbs-up sign— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: He hasn’t even put “Labour Party” on his hoardings. 
PETER BROWN 
: We cannot blame him for that can we? 
I want to give a little bit of advice to the Green Party. It should stand up for green issues. It should not leave it up to just us. It should not get involved in those loopy left-wing socialist-type policies. It should stand up for green environmental issues—there are plenty of them. We need some help. New Zealand First cannot do it all on its own. That party over there is the party that adopted the name “Green” and it should help us on the green issues. We invite those members to show concern for the environment. 
I want to give a little bit of advice to my colleagues in United Future. We have respected their strategy of sticking by the Government for 3 years no matter what. We respect that United Future had a strategy and that it said it would prop the Government up for 3 years no matter what. United Future lost the cause on the prostitution legislation but it stuck by the strategy. It lost the cause on the smoke-free legislation but it stuck by the strategy. It lost the cause on the civil union legislation but it stuck by the strategy. It did not get GST removed from rates but it stuck by the strategy. It wanted to revise tax thresholds on income and it got a little bit—half a packet of chewing gum in 3 years’ time—and it still stuck by the strategy. It lost the cause on tax splitting but it stuck by the strategy. I give the honourable members in United Future a little bit of “Winston” advice. [ 
Interruption 
] No not Winston Peters; Winston Churchill. He said: “However beautiful the strategy sometimes you should look at the outcomes.” United Future has done this country a total disservice. 
In all seriousness that advice from Winston Churchill should apply to us all: “However beautiful the strategy sometimes you should look at the outcomes.” We are not getting the outcome out of this House that New Zealanders deserve. We are not achieving it. Members are sitting there clapping their hands and moving legislation that the average New Zealander is appalled at. I suggest to members that they go away from the House—we are coming up to an election as I am sure they are aware—and talk policies that can advance this country rather than advancing the cause of MPs or any particular political party. Join us in New Zealand First and vote for this country. It is a beautiful country and it is worth doing the right thing for.