Finlayson Christopher: General Debate 
Finlayson Christopher: General Debate 
[Volume:642;Page:11795] 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) 
: 
 What an honour and a thrill it is to follow Lesley Soper this afternoon! I must say I always find the general debate a rather strange parliamentary ritual when for an hour MPs stand and yell and scream at one another—none more so than the Minister of Defence who stands in this House and for 5 minutes hyperventilates with veins in his neck popping while he recounts some misdeeds apparently committed by the National Party in the days of Sid Holland and Keith Holyoake. 
Well I do not intend to hyperventilate or ululate or bellow or scream this afternoon but just rather quietly assess the performance of some of Helen Clark’s Ministers. Nor am I going to spend too much time on Mike Moore because there is nothing new in Mike Moore’s comments. Everything is as it should be in the Labour Party where hatred is the norm. Ancient and modern hatreds in the Labour Party are always amusing to observe or read about. We know that John A Lee hated Savage the left of the Labour Party hated Fraser Kirk hated Nordmeyer Rowling hated Lange Lange hated Helen Clark Helen Clark hates Mike Moore Mike Moore hates Helen Clark and everyone hates Jim Anderton. 
 Let us look at the Government’s justice team because it is the most ineffective team in decades and its responsibilities are grave indeed. I have always been generous when I have spoken about previous Labour lawyers. I have said that Rex Mason was a good Attorney-General and Minister of Justice for 17 years. Martyn Finlay did some good work between 1972 and 1975. Geoffrey Palmer—the de facto Minister of Justice today—was an enthusiastic Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in David Lange’s Cabinet. David Lange himself was a distinguished Attorney-General between 1989 and 1990. Indeed in the Lange-Palmer administration there were some good lawyers—people like Richard Prebble David Caygill dear old Frank O’Flynn Bill Jeffries and Trevor de Cleene. They were serious legal minds whom one respected even if on occasion one disagreed with them. But let us take a look at Helen Clark’s justice team. 
First we start with the Attorney-General who in the critical question of the Electoral Finance Bill has failed to act as an independent and fearless law officer by providing that all-important report under section 7 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. Loyalty to party is more important to our Attorney-General than loyalty to democracy. 
Then there is the Minister of Justice. Lenin once described some of his lackeys as “useful idiots”. When he tired of them it was off to the Gulag or the grave. The bewildered member for Taupo Mark Burton is nothing more than a fall guy for the Prime Minister. Day after day he goes out to bat for the Government in this Chamber only to find that his captain has broken his bat. Constantly humiliated by my deputy leader the poor chap is out of his depth. He talks daily—as he did again this afternoon—about the need for elections to be a contest of ideas but he has never had an original idea in his entire political career. I put it to the Labour members sitting opposite to give me an example of one original idea that Mr Burton has had. I tell them I will make it easy for them. They can refer to any idea in any portfolio the man has held: tourism Treaty negotiations local government or justice. Is there just one example from Mr Swain? There is silence. Mr Burton will be gone in a fortnight. 
Then there is the Minister of Corrections who will soon be out of his job and next year will lose his seat to Chris Auchinvole. Others have commented on his performance this afternoon and as I am feeling charitable I will leave it at that. The Minister for Courts is next. Courts is an extremely important portfolio. An efficient court system is a fundamental ingredient of our justice system yet the Minister Rick Barker has no answers—he does not even know what the issues are. Finally in this star-studded line-up there is the member for Waimakariri Clayton Cosgrove and there is the Hon Mita Ririnui—enough said about them. 
The area of justice needs urgent reform in a number of areas and Labour’s justice team is simply not the team to address them. At the end of the day it is the fault of the Prime Minister. She has always placed a premium on loyalty rather than on talent and experience. She is now reaping the reward of her years of selfish leadership of the party and of stuffing her party caucus full of social workers and trade unionists. Loyalty and subservience are qualities to be desired more than talent and experience. Next year the Prime Minister will find out the cost of those omissions.