Fairbrother Russell: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Fairbrother Russell: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:606;Page:3328] 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER (NZ Labour—Napier) 
: 
 I support the Prime Minister’s statement this afternoon. What impressed me about that statement as I listened eagerly to it was that it carried on from the Speech from the Throne at the beginning of this Parliament and demonstrated the wise leadership and strong government that emerged during the last term of this Government and has been a feature of the last 7 or 8 months of this present term.  
I was so swayed by the Prime Minister’s speech and I was pleased to see that the Leader of the Opposition was equally overwhelmed and persuaded when he conceded that this was at least a three-term Government—“at least” being my term. That was a moment of honesty by the National Party—reflected in the fact that there is probably only one National member in the House tonight as the rest of them have retired to consider how they will deal with a fourth term of this Labour Government.  
The wise leadership is reflected in the Napier electorate that I represent. The Napier electorate is something of an unusual electorate. It is a great electorate in which to live and to raise children.  
R Doug Woolerton 
: An unusual member. 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: An unusual member does not talk about the products of bulls as the last speaker for New Zealand First did. Napier is a good electorate in which to be educated. It is an electorate that centres on the town of Napier and has a rural surround. Both the rural sector and the town sector pool very well in tourism the quality table produce the innovative manufacturing the advanced technological developments and the degree education supplied by the Eastern Institute of Technology. Maori  Pacific Island Chinese and other immigrant cultures are now being supplemented by a number from Iraq who bring with them education skills and an earnestness to contribute to the community. This reflects the general tenor of the spirit of Napier at present.  
Napier has not always been as well served as it is under the current Government. It has been ravaged by the whims of overseas capitalists and survived. It has weathered through the discredited policies of the 1990s. It has survived climatic storms and droughts to now be the fruit bowl the wine centre and the art and cultural centre of New Zealand. That was demonstrated only two Saturdays ago at a jazz concert where 6000 people sat on their blankets and listened to a jazz performance including a singer from New York. A crowd of people who were well behaved enjoyed the wine the evening and the good weather. Still to come is our concert at the Mission in 2 weeks’ time and that follows a series of events that tie in with our Art Deco weekend. I am pleased to say that the Prime Minister will be enjoying some of that activity.  
The Prime Minister’s speech which showed the theme of a stable Government and strong leadership made me reflect on the leadership that Napier currently enjoys. It has a city council that is now working together under the strong leadership of the mayor Barbara Arnott. It has a port that is one of the busiest in the country and is becoming one of the largest. The Port of Napier exports produce right around the world and is the offload point for much into New Zealand. The Eastern Institute of Technology is gradually growing into a tertiary education institute of high repute. It offers stage one courses for some of the major universities in this country. We of course have our vineyards which are well known and are bringing overseas capital into the area and the area is enjoying the produce of that.  
Any community whether it be a country a city a town or any association of people will prosper only with wise stable and strong leadership. On Waitangi Day we saw that leadership through the Ngati Kahungunu. Ngati Kahungunu of course surrounds Napier and Hastings. These two major cities are in the heart of Ngati Kahungunu which extends from the Wairarapa through to Gisborne. At the Clive River the scene of the landing of the first settlers in Napier and Hawke’s Bay was re-enacted by the Ngati Kahungunu. The iwi waka welcomed the settlers and a day of food culture and sport was provided. The event was attended by perhaps 10000 to 15000 people.  
What was significant about that day was that it was not just a Maori day. It was a day on which those attending both Maori and Pakeha in Hawke’s Bay recognised that the treaty is not just a Maori document. They recognised that the treaty is also a document for Pakeha  because the treaty is being recognised as our founding constitutional document which gives the basis of Pakeha existence in this country. While we continue to refer to the treaty as being a Maori document we diminish not only the treaty but we diminish ourselves by our arrogance. So at the Clive River on 6 February we saw a celebration of the treaty which was truly multicultural. It is a pattern that has been developing at that riverside for the past 7 or 8 years.  
However not all is well in Hawke’s Bay. Not all organisations in Hawke’s Bay reflect the leadership of so much that I can point to. The tragedy is that just before Christmas an organisation that we hold as dear as our police and fire service held an extraordinary meeting among its staff. The management of the Order of St John an organisation now managed out of Hawke’s Bay called its staff together and made the surprising announcement without any prior discussion with anyone else that eight of its staff faced the prospect of redundancy. All the staff of the Hawke’s Bay organisation faced a Christmas not knowing whether they and their families would be the product of redundancy or whether they would survive at the expense of a colleague. That uncertainty exists right down to today.  
The biggest surprise about that announcement is that if there was any valid reason for those claimed prospective eight redundancies and if it was a Government cause then one would have expected the leader of the St John organisation to call together the five members of Parliament who are affected by that decision. Not one of my colleagues Janet Mackey and Georgina Beyer or my colleague the Hon Rick Barker heard about this move until after the decision had been announced. No meeting was held with St John’s until my colleague Georgina Beyer organised such a meeting and we met the chief executive. 
We asked why this announcement was being made and how he could justify it. He confirmed that Government funding to St John’s in the Hawke’s Bay had increased successively over the past few years. He stated that the reason was that an accident trauma experiment had been established in 1995 and discontinued in 1998 leaving a number of surplus staff. But if one were to ask those staff how they manage to load patients into an ambulance in a remote rural area with only one member in attendance one would realise that they would be hard-pressed to describe the organisation as having surplus numbers. These are the same people who attend the most horrific tragedies on our motorways and the domestic and industrial accidents that are an embarrassment to all of us. Those valuable members of the Order of St John are the first on the scene and have been most poorly treated. My colleagues on this side of the House are pursuing that matter to see where the truth really lies but it is not a Government problem; it is a lack of clear leadership.  
We have seen leadership in Napier in the development of the roads. We have a motorway now that will open in a few months’ time that will take one from the airport around the outskirts of Napier past the vineyards and some most attractive country out to Hastings and beyond so that people can enjoy the fruits of the Hawke’s Bay as they head down to the Wairarapa and my friend Georgina Beyer’s country. There are some complaints of course. Because so many good roads are provided people can identify one area that is not so good. We have a flyover over Kennedy Road that has been a problem point for years and years and years. The focus in Hawke’s Bay and Napier now changes to the Taradale and Meanee Road intersection which is a danger spot. There has been an increasing focus on it because it is one of the few danger spots left. The Hon Rick Barker and I will be working on Transit New Zealand to ensure that the area receives the attention that the motorway did as a result of the good efforts of the Hon Rick Barker in years before I came to this House.  
There is one area of leadership that I must touch on before I finish and that is the leadership provided to victims. This is relevant to Napier because the area has had a high crime rate in the past. In fact Hawke’s Bay has one of the largest prisons in New Zealand. Last year in December 2002 the Victims’ Rights Bill was passed. This is a time now when the rights of victims have been recognised as they have never been recognised before. Every criminal offence has at least one victim and that victim never understands why he or she is the victim of the offence. The leadership of this Government is reflected in that Act. I am proud of this Government and proud to represent Napier accordingly.