Carter David: Appropriation (2005/06 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Carter David: Appropriation (2005/06 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:627;Page:22247] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (National) 
: 
 It is with pleasure that I take part in the debate in the dying days of the Labour Government and again in urgency on the third reading of the Appropriation (2005/06 Estimates) Bill. 
I want to talk about the events of yesterday when Labour embarked on yet another diversion campaign because of the Prime Minister being in trouble. Let us look at yesterday’s Christchurch  
Press 
 headline which states: “PM’s car ‘hit 172kmh’”. It is no wonder that Phil Goff came into the House yesterday afternoon in question time with a complete fabrication of the truth and launched his leadership bid because he and Mr Mallard are locking horns over who will lead the Labour Party in Opposition after the next election. 
We are debating the Budget—the “chewing gum Budget” as it has become known. Dr Cullen went to the people of New Zealand and said that despite having a $7 billion surplus things were a bit tight and that if they waited patiently the Government would deliver to them 67c per week in 3 years’ time. That is what Dr Cullen did. 
Hon Member 
: Absolutely outrageous! 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: It will be 67c per week in 3 years’ time. Then the polls started to turn and the fiscal restraint Dr Cullen claims he is well known for was completely abandoned. The first person to come to the floor with a leadership bid was Mr Mallard with a billion-dollar student loan bribe. That particular policy cannot be explained any other way. Mr Mallard himself is on record as saying that no substantial alteration could be made to the student loan policy unless New Zealand struck oil and was guaranteed economic stability for the next 50 years. He said that earlier this year. But when the polls are down when Helen Clark is on the ropes and when Phil Goff and Trevor Mallard are locked in a leadership tussle Mr Mallard is the first off the block with a billion-dollar bribe. We can forget about fiscal fortitude; an election is about to occur and that was the first election bribe. 
This morning’s  
Dominion Post 
—that well-known daily Labour Party newsletter—tells us that the first billion dollars has been spent and that Labour is sitting on another billion dollars that it plans to release to New Zealand over the election campaign. I say to Mr Swain the only Labour Minister in the House this morning that the New Zealand public will not be fooled by those bribes. A Government presenting a Budget and saying that there is no money for tax cuts then starting on an expensive spending spree simply because the polls are against it will not fool New Zealanders. 
In this election we need to focus on the real issues. The real issues are on the way that Labour has created two standards of citizenship in this country—one for Maori and one for non-Maori. That is completely unacceptable to me it is completely unacceptable to the National Party and it is completely unacceptable to most New Zealanders. 
We also have the debacle within the education sector overseen first of all by Mr Maharey and more recently by Mr Mallard. The sum of $239 million was given to a wananga when Mr Mallard himself said he always doubted the value of that spending. Those sorts of scandals will not occur when the National Government takes over after 17 September. That is the sort of thing we will tidy up immediately. New Zealanders deserve a quality education and that is not being delivered by this Government. 
Then of course we have the issue of social welfare dependency. Although unemployment has come down we note that surprisingly the numbers of people on the sickness and invalids benefits have effectively doubled over the time Labour has been in office. Is that not an admission that the country has got sicker under a Labour Government? Why are more people on a sickness benefit now than when Mr Swain came into power? 
Hon Paul Swain 
: It’s because they get older. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Mr Swain says they get older. I ask Mr Swain whether we are now putting superannuitants on that benefit. That is what he is doing and the excuse is that they go on the sickness benefit simply because they are getting older. That excuse will not wash with New Zealanders on 17 September either. 
Over the weekend two very sad incidents of teenagers being killed in horrific car accidents occurred. I note the comments made by members of the Labour caucus acknowledging a problem with young motorists and the way they drive. There is a problem with young motorists not being mature enough to handle vehicles and there is certainly a problem with young motorists using cars at speeds at which they cannot control them. But what sort of example does the Prime Minister set to young New Zealanders when she herself travels along State Highway 1 from Waimate to Christchurch at speeds of up to 172 kilometres an hour? 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: That’s over 100 miles an hour. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: That is over 100 miles an hour as my colleague Dr Wayne Mapp says. What sort of example does that set from the Prime Minister of this country? The excuse she gives is that she was rushing to make a rugby match in Wellington. I say to the Prime Minister that I also travelled to Wellington on that particular day to watch that same rugby match. I left on a flight from Christchurch 1 hour later than the Prime Minister’s flight and I arrived in Wellington with at least 1 hour to spare before I had to get to the stadium to watch the rugby match. There is absolutely no excuse for the Prime Minister’s travelling at that sort of speed up the main road south to Christchurch. She had plenty of time to make that rugby match. We see now six people before the courts charged with being responsible for the speed at which that motorcade travelled. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: Hung out to dry. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Six people! The Prime Minister will not accept any responsibility. She hangs those six people out to dry. I predict that if they are convicted some of those six people will lose their jobs. But could the Prime Minister care less about those six people in the dock in Timaru today? 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: She’s like a Roman emperor. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I would say that most Roman emperors took more responsibility than Helen Clark ever has. This is the most disgraceful wiping of her hands we have seen. We know that she is prepared to forge paintings. That issue will not be lost on New Zealanders. Now we have this case of her speeding at 172 kilometres an hour to Christchurch to catch a flight to Wellington when she had hours to spare. 
Paul Adams 
: It’ll be an election issue. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I assure Mr Adams that it will be an election issue. Jo Goodhew is out there door-knocking at the moment in the Aoraki electorate. Mr Sutton does not stand a chance of being returned as the member for Aoraki because the South Canterbury people are the ones who had to jump out of the way. Their lives were at risk as the motorcade cruised up the main road south at a speed of 170 kilometres an hour. 
Because the Prime Minister is in trouble Mr Goff and Mr Mallard raised the most frivolous headlines yesterday quite inaccurately. It is all a diversion tactic because the Prime Minister is in trouble. So I say to the voters of New Zealand that they should not be fooled by the Labour Party. They should stick to the issues at this election—the Treaty of Waitangi and the grievances it has created in New Zealand and the economy and taxation. I ask the public of New Zealand to recall the 41 new taxes that have been imposed by the Labour Government. That is how it has achieved the massive Budget surplus of $7 billion.