Carter David: General Debate 
Carter David: General Debate 
[Volume:623;Page:18490] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (National) 
: 
 What does David Parker have in common with Jill Pettis? They will both lose their seats at the hands of the electors at the next election. What do Dover Samuels Lianne Dalziel Ruth Dyson Marian Hobbs Phillida Bunkle John Tamihere George Hawkins Mark Burton and David Benson-Pope have in common? They are all casualties or are about to be casualties of Helen Clark as she continues to reshuffle the deckchairs on her  
Titanic 
. The cracks are getting harder and harder to plaster over and Helen Clark’s casualty list is getting bigger and bigger. We are only in the second week of Parliament this year and we see Ministers floundering through question time day after day. 
We see the incompetence of George Hawkins. Have we ever before seen a Minister on his feet embarrass not only his Labour Party colleagues but also every other member in the House? George Hawkins is only in the police portfolio because the self-proclaimed popular and competent Prime Minister could not bring herself in her reshuffle last year to do what she knew had to be done. So we get George Hawkins standing there day after day trying to explain the failings of the 111 system. Someone phones the 111 system and the police dispatch a taxi. Someone phones the 111 system and the police are unable to get there because they have highway patrols out collecting revenue with their speed cameras. And George Hawkins cannot explain it. He gets up in the House and suggests stupidly that women are more concerned about speeding motorists than they are about being raped in their own homes. Today he tried to explain why the number of infringement notices has doubled in the last 4 years—why the amount of revenue the Government is grabbing from offending motorists has doubled over the last 4 years. We in this House all know that the level of serious crime continues to increase yet the incompetent George Hawkins still as of today holds his ministerial warrant. 
Then we have Mark Burton the Minister of Defence who unilaterally decided to buy an additional 55 LAVIIIs when the Auditor-General now says we do not have enough people to drive them or enough money to spend on spare parts. Where is the Minister’s accountability for that? We have an Auditor-General’s report that is damning of that Minister—the Minister who hoped to be relieved of his portfolios so that he could sit in the Speaker’s Chair. Even Helen Clark had the nous to know that he would be incompetent to do that job. The decision to buy 105 LAVIIIs will prove to be the greatest embarrassment for that Minister with the huge expenditure of $677 million being wasted. 
Yes I will now come to the Prime Minister’s school favourite David Benson-Pope and the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). I watched earlier when we had a snap debate in the House. In my time here I have never before seen a Minister—having been called in for a snap debate—the instant that the Speaker makes his decision arrive lo and behold with a set typewritten speech to read to the House. That has never before occurred in my time here. The Minister was so ill-prepared to handle his portfolio that his officials had to type out a speech for him to read. He had 15 minutes in which to try to explain the incompetent mess he has made of the NCEA and he managed to read his speech for 6 minutes. He certainly did not satisfy the members of this House that he has that situation under control. David Benson Pope failed to recognise the way he has let down the many New Zealand students who worked hard for 12 months to sit the NCEA exams last year—slaved their guts out all year—and who now have a worthless qualification because of his incompetence.