Hereora Dave: General Debate 
Hereora Dave: General Debate 
[Volume:644;Page:13527] 
DAVE HEREORA (Labour) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. Before I start I want to advise the member who has just completed his speech Colin King that in such a robust speech it is quite important to have the correct facts. To that end I remind the member that it was actually a National Government that stopped the training for enrolled nurses and National stopped the training for the dental therapists as well. So although the speech was given in a robust manner it is important to have those facts correct. In case the member forgets I point out that it was actually National that stopped training for both enrolled nurses and dental therapists. 
I take the opportunity to place on record some of the positive things that this Labour-led Government has promoted. Some of the positive promotions of our policies have been through for example the economy. Unemployment has been reduced to just 3.6 percent. More than 200000 New Zealanders have already been helped with their personal savings through KiwiSaver. I move on to the issue of sustainability. New Zealand’s household sustainability programme will help households to identify practical steps to cut their electricity and power bills. We are quite proud of the policy we have adopted in relation to climate change. 
These policies are all designed to help and they explain why Helen Clark enjoys such a comfortable lead as a leader and a Prime Minister. I do think that that was the underlying reason why the Opposition decided to go with the DVD—a DVD that breached copyright. Is it not amazing that Temuera Morrison is currently campaigning against copyright piracy yet we have an Opposition party that has been caught out on that same problem? From what I can gather those members did not get caught out immediately. It actually took them 4 days to pull the DVD—a whole 4 days. On the Friday the issue was exposed on the Saturday it was published in the papers and on the Sunday the papers were still covering the story. But it was not until the Monday that John Key decided to pull it. So the rubber hit the road and it took him 4 days to do it. And those members are saying that he might be a possible Prime Minister! Will it take him 4 days to make a decision if he is Prime Minister? I doubt it. 
This is very reflective of other gaffes that have happened in the past is it not? There was the flip-flop on Iraq. The extent of the policy was “Do we send troops there? Do we not send troops there?”. The release of National’s health policy showed that National would increase doctors’ fees. There was also the policy of selling State assets. All those things show what a typical disaster the Opposition is in promoting its opportunity to become the Government. 
So can we trust John Key? It does not look as though we can. At the end of the day he would not take the responsibility of accepting the blame for the DVD. He blamed his staff and when that did not work he blamed the publisher. So his measure of credibility is far gone. I think that the reason why the Opposition wanted to promote that DVD was to try to oppose the positive things that this Labour-led Government has been doing. I mentioned some of those positive things earlier. Regarding our seniors under a Labour-led Government there will always be superannuation for retirement. We have also invested heavily in raising the rate of New Zealand superannuation from 60 percent to 66 percent. In the area of health I can say that just the other day we recommitted the new Kaitaia Hospital. So we are investing in health and we are conscious of our obligations in relation to providing safe health care and providing education. 
I think it is important for us to acknowledge the good things that this Labour-led Government is promoting. We will continue to do that. We have a heavy Order Paper to continue with particularly with the debate we are having at the moment over the Electoral Finance Bill. We all know that the reason we are promoting that bill is due to National’s experiences with the Exclusive Brethren. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Just before I call the next member I would like to refer members on my left to Speakers’ rulings 58/4 and 59/1. They refer to members moving from their seats to facilitate interjection.