Mackey Moana: General Debate 
Mackey Moana: General Debate 
[Volume:624;Page:19254] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I am very happy to take part in this general debate. I am proud to be part of a Government that has one of the best health Ministers this country has ever seen—a Minister presiding over a portfolio that has been such a problem for National Ministers in the past. It has been such a problem that health has been at the forefront of all New Zealanders’ minds at every general election. In this House we have had days when the Minister of Health has been asked a question in question time and the National Party has not even asked a supplementary question. I do not think that that is very common for such a high-profile portfolio—high-profile for the Labour Party which has the Minister of Health on its front bench but not quite so high-profile for the National Party for which health is now such a non-issue that it has demoted the health spokesperson to the third bench of its caucus. 
I am proud to be part of a Labour-led Government that has presided over some of the best unemployment and crime statistics that we have seen in over 20 years. We know we have an Opposition under pressure when it touts Tony Ryall as the answer on law and order—a man who was Minister of Justice in the last National Government and who did none of the things he now says should be done by the current Minister of Justice. I have to say that Tony Ryall is a lion in Opposition and a dead mouse in Government. It is not good enough: New Zealanders must hold him to account at this election and ask: “If it’s such a great idea now Mr Ryall why didn’t you do it when you were in Government?”. 
We in this House are being asked to perceive Dr Don Brash as a potential Prime Minister of this country. Unfortunately when one wants to be Prime Minister one sometimes has to make decisions without Murray McCully and I think that that might be an issue for Dr Brash. Sometimes to be merely uncomfortable with a position or a situation is not a firm enough stand to take on the international stage. 
Members should spare a thought for Dr Brash’s poor family. Imagine how many more obsessive-compulsive Oedipus complex tell-all biographies we and they will have to endure if Dr Brash ever gets within a stone’s throw of the Beehive. Dr Brash is described by his biographer—a National Party candidate—as a “true New Zealand patriot”. Let us look at that. 
Dr Brash is a man who stated last year that he often forgot what a fantastic country this is—a true New Zealand patriot? He is a man who thought that New Zealand would become just another Pacific Island State. He is also a man who thought young New Zealanders were so shallow that the only thing that would get them to go to Gallipoli—the only thing that would get them to go to a place where thousands of New Zealanders died—was a rock concert. Dr Brash dropped the ball on that one because he did not know that young New Zealanders go there in droves already. The ironic thing about Dr Brash trying to seem in touch with contemporary young New Zealanders is that this is a man who when he was interviewed on 95bFM could not name a single New Zealand band—a true New Zealand patriot! Is this the man we want advocating for this country and representing this country on an international stage? 
Here at home how can New Zealanders have any confidence in what the National Party stands for today? It seems that the only principle that holds today’s National Party together is the arrogant born-to-rule Tory assumption that it deserves to be in Government without earning the position. That is probably why the National Party seems to consider in an election year—6 months out from an election—that policy is an unnecessary luxury. 
In chapter 10 of Dr Brash’s biography on page 247 he is quoted as saying of the 2002 election: “We made two serious mistakes. First there was too much policy.” Well there is absolutely no chance of the National Party being accused of having too much policy this year unless we count all the Labour Party policy it has nicked over the last 6 months. 
A case in point is the Modern Apprenticeships scheme. What will National do with the Modern Apprenticeships scheme? Bill English has the gall to stand up in this House and tell this Government that we should be spending more money on Modern Apprenticeships when on his own side Max Bradford said of the Apprenticeship Training Bill: “This legislation is pathetic just like the scheme that is behind it and the sooner we get rid of it the better.” That is what the National Party said about the Modern Apprenticeships scheme. [ 
Interruption 
] Georgina te Heuheu pipes up. Does she agree with Mr Max Bradford? Tony Steel another fine National Party MP said that all that money was being spent on 3000 apprentices who would not get any work. Well what will the National Party do with the Modern Apprenticeships scheme now?