Dunne Peter: Urgent Debates — Mercury Energy—Disconnection of Electricity Supply 
Dunne Peter: Urgent Debates — Mercury Energy—Disconnection of Electricity Supply 
[Volume:639;Page:9753] 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
: 
 I want to begin by extending my condolences and very deepest sympathy to the family of FololeMuliaga on this tragic set of events. The loss of a mother and a wife is something that strikes hard at the heart of every family and the grief that that family will be enduring at this moment can only begin to be imagined. As human beings one to another our hearts go out to them. But we need to be very very careful in a situation that is so charged as this that is so shocking that we as parliamentarians do not overreact to those circumstances. 
Of course we need to ensure that the circumstances that gave rise to Mrs Muliaga’s death are rectified that there can never be a repetition that people who are in need of urgent medical services have access to those at all times and in all circumstances. But I was extraordinarily angered last week on the very day of her funeral to listen to  
Morning Report 
 and a slanging match between the two major political parties in this House about culpability. That was what prompted my comments about political grandstanding not the attendance of the Prime Minister at the funeral at the family’s invitation. I could not begin to conceive how insensitive it was on the day of the funeral when the family’s emotions would be at their most taut and most strained to have the so-called leaders of this country arguing about whether heavy-handed regulation or something more cavalier was the circumstance that required action. That was the height of insensitivity. It was callous and it was brutal. 
It is a timely reminder to all of us in such awful circumstances—and these are awful circumstances—that our responsibility is to ensure that there are no repetitions but not that we rush to judgment not that we leap up and down and aggravate an already difficult and tense situation by trying to score the ultimate point. 
I think many many many New Zealanders will be shocked by the turn of events of the last fortnight. Our egalitarian status—and I agree with my colleague Mr Brown—has taken a huge knock in this country and around the world at the thought that these circumstances can occur. 
 I guess emotions naturally run high in that situation. We have to act to make sure this never happens again but please can we do so without resorting to making this the sort of sensational story that only demeans the reputation of Mrs Muliaga and her family in the way I think we have been guilty of doing in recent times. This is not something to be proud of. This is not the New Zealand way. We support people. We work with them. We reach solutions. Surely one solution must be that if ever anyone is prescribed lifesaving or necessary medical equipment there be an automatic flag from the district health board to the utilities to make sure that that equipment is able to be operated. Had that been in place in this situation these events would not have occurred. I believe that that is the point at which we should be starting to think about solutions and that is the ultimate way in which we can move forward. 
I want to end simply by repeating my condolences—my sense of sympathy—to the family in the loss they have endured and my hope that in the days ahead they can derive strength from the support of their community and can again come to grips with life and have very positive and powerful memories of the contribution of their wife and mother.