Key John: General Debate 
Key John: General Debate 
[Volume:642;Page:11787] 
JOHN KEY (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 We know that when Phil Goff leads off for the Labour Party it is barbecue season again. “Chuck us another lamb chop.” I would say to Mr Goff as I know he has been waiting waiting waiting. But the waiting is coming to an end my friend! Phil Goff sits in his caravan with the Little Lucifer Fire Starters—there he is ready to go. He normally gives quite good speeches but I was tempted to ask for an extension of time; I was not quite sure what would happen. 
It is a very odd Labour Government I have to say when the way to keep one’s job is to text message the Prime Minister from a duty-free shop in Hong Kong saying one does not want it any more. That is the way to keep it. I wonder what the Prime Minister texted back. That is the interesting question. I bet that it was not a resounding vote of support for Damien O’Connor. [ 
Interruption 
] Well exactly. Probably it was: “Pick me up another bottle of Gordon’s gin.”; I am not really quite sure what she texted back. 
 This is the interesting bit. The Prime Minister lectured that Cabinet just a few weeks ago and said that it was time for discipline. That is what she did. She had just fired David Benson-Pope and she said it was time for discipline. Damien O’Connor walked out of that meeting into a briefing in his office where he was told that if he took Mr Morgan—someone who was on suspension from the Department of Corrections—on a rugby trip it might not be a very smart thing to do. What did he do? He took Mr Morgan on the trip—he did not care about the Prime Minister. When he got to Hong Kong on the way back home he decided he had better text in his resignation. 
Well his job is coming to an end—no question about that. The Prime Minister—like the people of New Zealand—has no confidence in Damien O’Connor because this is a man who is overseeing a department that has suffered from a catalogue of failures. Make no mistake New Zealanders have died under the watch of that Minister. The Department of Corrections is an operation where guards are being suspended for contraband and drugs being brought in. This is an operation where they cannot get it right on how much a prison costs—to the nearest $100 million. This is an operation where the Minister thinks it is more important to spend $11 million on landscaping than to spend it on rehabilitating prisoners in order to get them off drug and alcohol issues. This is the man whose best is to text in his resignation and then not tell us for how long his job is safe for. 
The one thing we could say about Damien O’Connor was that he managed to game Helen Clark. He knew she could not accept his resignation because it is not a minor tweaking; it is major open-heart surgery going on over there. This is a Prime Minister who is looking not only for a replacement for Mr O’Connor but for Mr Benson-Pope Mr Burton Mr Barker—and the list goes on and on. It would be Jill Pettis and Russell Fairbrother if they had ever made it to the point where they could be sacked but they have not actually got there yet. That is what is happening over there. The Prime Minister is fishing in a very shallow pond. 
Quite interestingly the  
Otago Daily Times 
 described Labour this week as being past it. The  
Dominion Post 
 editorial said Labour members were people who were out of touch. Well the National Party is in touch. I will tell the House how in touch National is. National has been around the country and this is what one learns when one is around the provinces. I was in Palmerston North last week. It was quite an interesting visit last week. What was interesting about it was this. It turns out that Steve Maharey will not be getting the job as vice-chancellor of Massey University—not because he has not applied for it but because Massey University does not want him. They asked me: “Would you hire him?”. I said: “No I don’t think so. His track record’s not that good.” They said they were not fools there in Palmerston North. They did give me an interesting snippet though. They said: “Don’t worry too much. He’s applied for another job at Waikato University.” 
That is what is happening. The Prime Minister is working out who to sack the front bench is working out how to get out and Damien O’Connor is working out where the Chamber is—we have not seen him since he has come back from England. That is what is happening on that side of the House. 
Helen Clark is now sitting up in her office with a Velcro board trying to work out who is in and who is out. The only problem is that she has got a whole lot more going out than she has got coming in. The great white hope is Shane Jones—and if he is the great white hope it will be interesting.