Wilkinson Kate: General Debate 
Wilkinson Kate: General Debate 
[Volume:655;Page:4598] 
Hon KATE WILKINSON (Minister of Labour) 
: 
 We are in the midst of the worst global recession since the 1930s and as the Hon George Hawkins correctly pointed out New Zealanders are hurting. They are worried and they are concerned. Of more concern is what this Opposition does. All it seems to do is scoff at mock and scaremonger about all the good things we are trying to do to help all New Zealanders get through these tough times. The job of any Opposition is certainly to hold the Government to account but it also has a responsibility. It has a responsibility to act in the best interests of New Zealanders and this Opposition is not doing that. It is failing. It is not in the country’s best interests to incorrectly scaremonger to scoff and to mock the good things happening on which we are trying to work together in order to get all New Zealanders through this recession with the least possible pain. Admittedly we have heard that Labour is trying to sort out its own internal conflicts but it should put those internal conflicts aside and concentrate on the bigger picture. It should concentrate on the issues that matter and focus on what is in the best interests of New Zealand. 
I mention something said by the honourable member who has come back to Parliament Damien O’Connor. He talked about new appointments made. If he were suggesting that those appointments have been made based not on competence but on politics then I think that that suggestion is a bit rich. He should look at Labour’s appointment of Dianne Yates to the board of Food Standards Australia New Zealand when her only interest in food is that she eats it. The Labour Government insisted last year that the vacancy on the board be filled by a member of the Labour caucus so it was filled by a person whose interest in food seems to be only that she does indeed eat it. 
We have heard of Labour messes of Labour’s legacies and of squandered opportunities. Those members have left a pretty notable legacy. Productivity collapsed under the Labour legacy the economy was put on a negative credit watch under the Labour legacy and we had rising unemployment in the midst of great economic times under the Labour legacy. We had falling economic growth under the Labour legacy we had high inflation under the Labour legacy we had a rising current account deficit under the Labour legacy and we had sharply rising Crown debt under the Labour legacy. I think that is a mess. We know that we are in the worst global recession yet despite that the National Government has maintained benefits. Despite the mess that Labour left us in we have maintained benefits. We have maintained student support we have maintained Working for Families and we have locked in national superannuation at 66 percent of the after-tax average wage despite Labour’s scaremongering and despite the mess and the legacy that Labour left us last year. 
It is interesting that members opposite mock the fact that our credit rating was not downgraded; they mock that. I am disappointed because I thought that they would have been more responsible than that. I thought they might have had the economic nous to realise what that meant to all hard-working New Zealanders who have a mortgage and who are paying interest on that mortgage. The fact that that credit rating was not downgraded means that New Zealanders have more money in their back pockets. That is a good thing; that is not something to be mocked. It is something concrete and tangible that this Government has managed to achieve and it has had an impact on every New Zealander. But those members have mocked it. They still mock it and they scaremonger and they scoff. 
We have managed to get unions businesses and the Government working together talking together and conversing together but those members do not like that either. They do not like the fact that we are prepared to listen to have a conversation and to work together to achieve something that is in the best interests of all New Zealanders in order to help them through the recession. National has been successful despite the messes we have been left with by Labour. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.