Maharey Steve: General Debates 
Maharey Steve: General Debates 
[Volume:608;Page:5197] 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister of Social Services and Employment) 
: 
 I am pleased to follow on from Dr Nick Smith who began his short contribution to this Wednesday debate by saying he wanted to talk about the important issues. He did not want to talk about the side issues or the trivial issues. However I say to Dr Smith that wherever I go around this country at the moment the big issue on most people’s minds is the absolute failure of the National Party to make a contribution to a functioning democracy. I go to business groups to local government groups and to community groups and they all ask: “What is the National Party doing?”. We are supposed to have a functioning democracy with scrutiny of the Government by those parties but Muriel Newman does more to scrutinise this Government on social welfare issues than does Katherine Rich who has to fight with three other people in the National Party even to be heard on social issues. People ask: “What is the National Party doing?”. I am told that the National Party is preoccupied with leadership and its failure to get decent leadership and that shows in editorial after editorial in this country. 
Members do not even need me to tell them the name of the person I am going to talk about now. This is from a  
National Business Review  
editorial: “His comments underscore his lack of understanding of business especially Auckland business and explain the strong feeling in the city of sails and among Auckland members of his caucus that he should be dumped from any leadership role.” Who am I talking about? It is Bill English. Let me quote from the  
Evening Standard 
—from Manawatu the heartland of the country. I have seldom seen that august journal get things wrong. What did it say? “He appears diffident on too many occasions. He is failing to make significant points of difference between his party and the Government.” Who am I talking about? It is Bill English. Let us go to the Business Roundtable: “It is no secret”—says the very heartland constituency of the National Party—“that the business community has been questioning what National and he stand for.” Who am I talking about? It is Bill English. Even the  
Southland Times 
—and members in this House know that when their backs are against the wall they can at least usually count on their own communities to say something decent about them—reports: “His own standing is distressingly low from the party’s perspective.” He should think about going. Who am I talking about? It is Bill English. If that man were a dog given the dog debate we have had over the last little while he would have been put down a long time ago. New Zealanders are compassionate people. They do not like to see wounded animals. They do not like to see the distress that goes on day after day around Mr English. 
However I bring good news to the country today in this Wednesday debate because I have it on absolutely good information that within 2 weeks it is going to happen. That is why the National Party is not functioning. That is why National members cannot even sustain a question time. That is why they are not putting up ideas. In the next couple of weeks finally National members will be getting their act together so that they can remove Mr English. Finally this compassionate supportive sympathetic country of ours will see a new leader emerge from the National Party—Dr Don Brash. That will solve the issues I have just talked about but will it solve the overall issues? No it will not. What we will see with Dr Brash is the emergence of a niche National Party of extreme right policies and politicians—and that comment comes right from the lips of the man who calls himself the assistant tea boy Mr Maurice Williamson. We know that the man who refers to himself as the assistant tea boy has been running a very successful line that the National Party must move back to its core constituency to be a niche party and a right-wing party. He does not care if people do not belong to it. He says that the party should be narrowed down and Mr Brash will do that for the party. He will turn the National Party into a niche party leaving only one big party in this Parliament the Labour Party leading a successful Labour-led Government. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.