Goodhew Jo: General Debate 
Goodhew Jo: General Debate 
[Volume:632;Page:4003] 
JO GOODHEW (National—Aoraki) 
: 
 I begin by making a comment on the previous speaker’s words. Nanaia Mahuta said that although we on this side of the House like to speak about animals they like to talk about people. I just make the comment that maybe that is why one law for all dogs failed. 
I will tell members a story from the cold snowy south—the electorate of Aoraki. I can tell members that last week we were very pleased to welcome the Minister of Civil Defence Rick Barker and to be able to tell him tall but true tales about the effects of the snow on our community. But two of Mr Barker’s comments have stuck in the minds of the people and they have retold them to me. First of all Mr Barker was offered a cup of tea. He declined the cup of tea because he said he had to get back to Christchurch before it got dark. Then the enormity of what he had said struck him. “Whoops!” he said “I guess you guys are in the dark a lot of the time at the moment without any power.” 
The other suggestion from Mr Barker was as follows. There they were with a water tanker outside the church hall where the community had bandied together to cook for those without power and he pointed over to the school and asked whether they would not be warmer in there. “Ah no Mr Barker” they said “your colleague Mr Mallard closed the school.” 
That brings me to the message I would like to share here today. If Trevor Mallard is going to be the next Minister of Finance and on the programme  
Agenda 
— 
Chris Auchinvole 
: No no! 
JO GOODHEW 
: Yes yes—he confirmed he would like the job the people of Aoraki will be very worried. Why? Because in 2004 Mr Mallard closed 13 schools. If it was not for the outcry of the community of Aoraki it would have been 19 schools because that is how many were originally proposed. When Mr Mallard arrived with his team of officials they showed the gathered community the figures about why some schools should close or merge. They then discovered that those figures were from another region. They had got the wrong numbers. 
At one stage a member of the Pleasant Point community asked why Mr Mallard was closing its schools when it would mean they would have to put their children on buses and they would not get the activity and exercise that Mr Mallard wants them to get. I am told the response from Mr Mallard was that parents should get the kids to jump out and run behind the bus. Here we have a Minister who is nothing short of offhand about what should happen to the people of Aoraki. 
Why should they be really nervous about this man as a potential Minister of Finance? It is because it seems he cannot count—which is a bit of a problem for a Minister of Finance. Merged schools such as Timaru Main School and Timaru West School which have become Bluestone School now have too many students because of the enrolment policy—zoning by another name. It is too full I say to Mr Mallard—as is Beaconsfield School. So really when they added up the number of students they got something wrong. Such is this man’s notoriety in Aoraki that at the Christmas parade they had mallard ducks hanging by their necks swinging merrily along on the back of trucks. 
Pleasant Point High School Seadown School Orari School Clandeboye School Milford School Washdyke School—those are just some of the schools that have closed. Clandeboye School was my primary school and it was a sad day indeed when we celebrated the last students being at Clandeboye school. Even sadder is the fact that the building programmes these schools were promised are not finished now in 2006. The Waitaki Valley School is not finished either—and that review was begun years before. 
My colleague Katherine Rich reminded us of something that Mr Mallard implied—that it was OK if Government businesses fell over because at least they owned the assets. He said that he wanted State-owned enterprises to be less boring and predictable. I can tell members that the people of Aoraki would sure like their power to be predictably on right now—and to stay on. 
 My colleague John Key told a woeful tale of “bistro-gate”—of conflicts of interest of muddled stories of no-notes meetings. Maurice Williamson also told us a tale of the words they did not mention—that “c” word code-share. Of course a lot of people on this side of the House are saying: “Yeah right!”. I know that the people of Aoraki are incredibly worried about Mallard as finance Minister.