Guy Nathan: General Debate 
Guy Nathan: General Debate 
[Volume:653;Page:2548] 
NATHAN GUY (National—Otaki) 
: 
 Well that was the previous Minister of Housing who presided over slum landlords and the previous Minister for ACC who presided over a huge budget blowout of about half a billion dollars and did not declare all the figures in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update. That member should hang her head in shame. 
Today is a sad day for the Labour Party is it not? It is a sad day because the Rt Hon Helen Clark has decided to step down and leave this place. We heard her valedictory speech today as she moves off to her position in the UN in New York. Most New Zealanders and indeed the House will wish her well in that position and in what she will do for New Zealand. 
This is the end of an era for the Labour Party. Ms Clark was someone who held the Labour caucus extremely tightly. She really was very much a control freak. People in the Labour caucus were still confiding in Helen Clark who was the heir to everyone in the Labour Party and indeed in the Labour caucus. She was someone who had sheer intellectual grunt and knowledge. She will be sorely missed in the Labour caucus. What will happen from hereon in when Dr Cullen goes at the end of this month is that the Labour caucus will lose two tremendous leaders. That is another two leaders gone from the Labour Party. We will watch from this side of the House as the party ruptures and haemorrhages with those two strong leaders deciding to move on to better things. The House wishes them both well. 
It is time to reflect on the positioning that will take place in the Labour caucus. It has already started. The chat has already started down the corridors and around the water coolers about who will be the successor to Phil Goff. It is an embarrassment that Phil Goff got 6 percent as the preferred Prime Minister in the latest poll. Today Phil Goff will actually be feeling a little bit chipper. Do members know why? It is because he heard like the whole of the House heard during the Rt Hon Helen Clark’s valedictory speech this afternoon that when she started as the Labour Party leader her polling as preferred Prime Minister was 2 percent. So Phil Goff will be feeling very chipper that he is currently polling on 6 percent. 
I also want the House to know that when Phil Goff came to Rotorua recently to talk to the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce the Prime Minister had already been in a few weeks before and 350 people had turned up to the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce luncheon. When the leader of the Labour Party Phil Goff decided to turn up in Rotorua do members know what happened? 
Aaron Gilmore 
: What? 
NATHAN GUY 
: Four people registered. Do members know who one of those people was? It was the previous member for Rotorua Steve Chadwick so three people turned up to listen to Phil Goff. In fact that Chamber of Commerce lunch had to be turned down. We will watch with interest with the two leaders who are in the process of leaving the Labour caucus just what will happen and who might be the aspirants lining up behind Phil Goff. Will it be the Hon Ruth Dyson? Will it be the member who spoke before me the Hon Maryan Street? Will it the Hon Dr—do they have a doctor left? Will it be David Cunliffe or will it be someone like Clayton Cosgrove? It will be very very interesting to watch as I believe the Labour Party will now start haemorrhaging. The knives will start getting sharpened and we will watch from this side of the House with great interest. 
There was very positive news though this week and indeed today with the National Government’s understanding of MMP and its reaching out to the Green Party by signing a memorandum of understanding on home insulation energy efficiency and natural health products. On this side of the House the National Government understands MMP and how it works. Members opposite are the true Opposition. There we have 43 members of the haemorrhaging Labour Party and one from the Progressive party. So there are 44 members opposite against the balance of members in the House. It will be interesting to see how we progress forward and the way the National Government under John Key is realising how MMP works.