Carter David: General Debate 
Carter David: General Debate 
[Volume:656;Page:5467] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (Minister of Agriculture) 
: 
 I acknowledge as Mr Lees-Galloway resumes his seat how difficult a transition it is from Government to Opposition. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: You’d know! 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I do. I remember it well in the year 2000 and I know that we transformed into an effective Opposition far quicker than that member is doing at this stage. I guess what is making it hard for the Labour Opposition members is that they look over to this side of the House and watch the ever-rolling success of this National Government. Nine months on and we are tackling the issues and the voters of New Zealand respect that. 
I never thought I would stand here and honestly say that I have had a wonderful weekend at a National Party conference in Christchurch. But it was a wonderful weekend. There were 700 delegates present all enjoying the success of a National Government. They waited with bated breath as the Prime Minister John Key came in to deliver his keynote address. We wondered ourselves what the Prime Minister would announce. He had the opportunity in front of 700 delegates to announce yet another initiative that is being well received by all New Zealanders. For young New Zealanders 17000 job opportunities have been created through new initiatives—17000 new opportunities for the youth of this country. Was it well received? We had the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations which was the first off the block to praise the initiatives and welcoming the opportunities for youth. The union was especially pleased with the move to implement the Youth Guarantee scheme. The Tertiary Education Union which is hardly a normal friend of the National Party said that it welcomed the opportunity and the package. New Zealand Aotearoa Adolescent Health and Development came out and welcomed the package. The Foundation for Youth Development the Mayors Task Force for Jobs—everybody came out and said that John Key had done it again and that it was a wonderful opportunity. 
I will talk about another mess we are tidying up for Labour. On Friday there was another decision from the Land Valuation Tribunal whereby the previous Government had attempted to increase the rents for high country farmers by some 2000 to 3000 percent. In some cases the rents were greater than the gross farm income. That is how stupid it was. The previous Labour Government said that if it was to be taken to court it was confident that that policy would survive. The decision was released on Friday. What did the court decide? It said that the rents were against the law and would not stand. That is yet another mess that we have tidied up for the previous Labour Government. 
I will also talk about the Labour Party and how it is going. It is struggling struggling struggling. There was a recent article in the  
New Zealand Listener 
 on the transition of leadership of the party from Helen Clark to Phil Goff. Do members know what deal was done? It is unbelievable! The deal was that Goff would not be challenged for 3 years. That was the deal that was done. It was negotiated by Helen Clark. To make sure it stands she texts Labour members on a daily basis. Who is in charge? Is it Helen Clark in New York or Phil Goff in Wellington? Good question! I do not know the answer but the next Labour member can stand and tell us. One Labour member has been particularly busy the Hon Trevor Mallard the member of Parliament for Hutt South. I know what he did on 17 July. He went to a company called Celcius Coffee. Having been there he got an email from the company complaining that it could not sell coffee to the Government. So Mr Mallard comes into work the next day and writes a letter to Mr Martyn Dunn Chief Executive and Comptroller of Customs and he effectively wishes in that letter that the Customs Service could consider buying the coffee from his constituent. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: What’s wrong with that? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Nothing is wrong with that! But if Mr Mallard wants to become a coffee salesman he should go and do it and stop being a member of Parliament.