Goff Phil: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Goff Phil: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:623;Page:18245] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade) 
: 
 This debate and yesterday’s fiasco within the National Party demonstrate quite clearly the choice the country has later this year. Across the House we see the National front bench divided chaotic embittered lacking in skills colourless visionless and biding its time as Gerry Brownlee is—he is ambitious because he thinks the ability to be leader depends on size. We see Bill English who sits there remembering what happened to him—the chance he never got—and waiting for his time to exact utu on Dr Brash. By contrast we have on this side of the House a Government a caucus and a Cabinet that is united works together and has a forward-looking vision for this country a Government that has delivered to the country and will continue to deliver in the years ahead. 
We look across at the National caucus and we see a front bench that is actually smaller in size than those former front-benchers who have been sacked from their positions. Who do we have there? We have Georgina te Heuheu David Carter Lockwood Smith Katherine Rich Wayne Mapp Lynda Scott and Maurice Williamson—all sacked from the front bench of the National Party and still the National Party fails and each of those members asks: “Why me? Why not one of those other people on the front bench who are failing to perform?”. And of course Simon Power is there. He was dismissed from his portfolios because of incompetence and he is still sitting on the front bench. 
Yesterday was the first parliamentary day of this year and in a totally unprecedented way rather than front up to his caucus meeting Don Brash cancelled it. I cannot remember that ever happening before. He cancelled it because the dissenters the disillusioned and the alienated are growing in numbers within the National caucus. Roger Sowry and Lynda Scott—members will remember those former rising stars of the National Party—are now quitting it altogether but will probably take the opportunity to get utu against Don Brash before they go. They are planning. They did not have “a” caucus yesterday; they had eight different caucuses as they met in the lobbies and the rooms and they planned their next steps. Then there are Georgina te Heuheu and Katherine Rich. They were sacked for disagreeing with their leader; apparently a leader with a corporate management style who cannot tolerate a diversity of views. Each year that he gives a speech at Orewa he has to sack the spokesperson on the area he gave the speech on because he—this man who is so ambitious to govern the country—cannot even govern his own caucus and the country will not have a bar of it. 
Brian Connell on the back bench over there was on the radio this morning openly criticising his leader’s incompetence. An anonymous National MP—maybe one of them will own up—stated in the media this morning that Don Brash’s handling of his caucus was stupid. Now which member said that and does not have the courage of his or her convictions to own up to it? 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Gerry Brownlee! 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Gerry Brownlee it is. Yes we can believe that. This is a shambles of an Opposition that is not fit to govern a dog pound let alone this country. Perhaps that is why every public opinion poll in this country shows that the New Zealand voting public has confidence in this Government but not in the Opposition and confidence in this country because it is doing extraordinarily well. This country has been governed by a Labour-led Government for 5 years. In those 5 years we have consistently been in the top half of the OECD in our growth figures. We have consistently beaten Australia in terms of the growth we have achieved and over the last year— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Rubbish! 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The member says: “Rubbish!”. Let us look at the figures. Over the last year we have had 4.6 percent growth the second-highest in the developed world under the management of this Labour-led Government. Over the same period there have been 200000 new jobs—200000 more New Zealanders are out in the workforce improving their living standards and contributing to this country. Unemployment plummeted to 3.8 percent the second-lowest rate in the OECD. 
 It is no wonder that we have had no speeches from Don Brash or John Key on the management of the economy. What could they possibly say? Instead we have had an attack on benefits. Let us look at the record. The number of adults in this country who are dependent on welfare has gone down by 23 percent under this Government. The number is down by 100000 and we have achieved that in 5 years. Don Brash came up with the great idea that he would reduce that number by 100000 but he would take 10 years over what this Government has achieved in 5 years. No one in this country will forget that relentlessly year after year under a National Government more people not fewer were joining the welfare queue. Today the welfare roll is down by 100000. It is no wonder that when Don Brash gives a speech on welfare the  
Dominion Post 
 gets 50 emails and that number trickles down to none by the second day. 
Then there is the issue of crime. The crime rate in this country is down by 18 percent. That is the lowest rate in 21 years. Do members remember when Don Brash said he was going to give speeches on five major policy areas? His policy on law and order fell flat and went nowhere. Don Brash once promoted as a man of gravitas and substance tries to be a populist but cannot do it convincingly. His policy fell flat and why did it fall flat? In 1999 there was a referendum on law and order. Do members remember that referendum? It was a vote of lack of confidence in what National had done for 9 years. Ninety-two percent of New Zealanders expressed their disapproval about the failure of the National Party on law and order. 
We have done what the National Party can only talk about. We have toughened up laws. We have made things better for victims. We now have the Victims’ Rights Act the Sentencing Act the Parole Act and the Bail Act which are putting away more recidivist serious offenders than ever before. We have a police force that for the first time is resourced properly and therefore is achieving crime resolution rates that are more than 10 percent higher than what was being achieved under a National Government. That is why more offenders are in jail. The crime rate is going down. More offenders are being caught because we have a more effective police force and decent legislation to provide the protection New Zealanders need against those people who are serious offenders. 
I finish on this note. Don Brash spent his holiday in Hawaii. I do not have an objection to that. He sat on the beach for 10 days. The greatest catastrophe to affect Asia occurred during that time and we had 10 days of deafening silence. There was not a word from the Leader of the Opposition about that catastrophe. But somehow he thought it good enough to come back to this country after his 10 days’ holiday having said nothing and done nothing to criticise the effort made by New Zealand and New Zealanders with regard to the tsunami. I tell members that I am proud of what New Zealand did over that period. I am proud of the effort of ordinary New Zealanders. I am proud of our police who are working and doing a dirty job in Thailand with disaster victim identification. I am proud of what our service personnel are doing in Indonesia. It was an appalling misjudgment on the part of the Leader of the Opposition to come back from his holiday and criticise that. Thank God he almost apologised for doing so yesterday.