Anderton Jim: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Anderton Jim: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Volume:614;Page:10775] 
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Minister for Economic Development) 
: 
 Along with other party leaders I express to you my thanks and congratulations on your work this year andseasons greetings to all members of Parliament. Seasons greetings also to our staff in Parliament Buildings and in particular to the VIP drivers who as anyone who has been a Minister knows are just about the most exceptional people in terms of service to those who they work for that one could hope for. 
When Don Brash and other leaders including Mr Prebble suggested that they wanted to come back on Thursday it made me laugh a bit because they are relying on the Government to pass the motion so they can actually go. I notice they want to come back on Thursday. They do not want to come back next week or continue to work—it is just for a day or so. That kind of cant does not have much place at this time of the year. 
Winston Peters of course berated the Prime Minister for not being here and for occasionally not being in Parliament. I say to Winston Peters that the Prime Minister Helen Clark has led this country magnificently over the last 4 years will lead it equally magnificently for the next 2 years and as far as I can see as far into the future as one would like. Winston Peters might like to recall that he could not even survive for 2 years as Deputy Prime Minister let alone lead the country. The fact is that Winston Peters will never ever get the chance to run this country because the people of New Zealand recognise the quality that is required in a Prime Minister and Winston Peters does not have it. 
If Mr Peters and members of New Zealand First want to enter into what is entirely a legitimate debate on population and immigration policies in my view they should do so in a way that does not do disservice to the proud liberal traditions of New Zealand and New Zealanders. I wish they would do it without damaging the reputation of New Zealand in the rest of the civilised and enlightened world. As Minister of Economic Development I know the truth about how much damage Winston Peters does to New Zealand’s reputation in other parts of the world. 
Jim Peters 
: No policies! 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: Well we asked for at least one of the three different policies on the seabed and foreshore issue that Winston Peters has as he goes around the country. We did not get one of them. 
Do we say it again? We are all descendents of immigrants in this country. There are no exceptions including Winston Peters myself and everyone else in this House. I find it incredible that someone like Winston Peters can go around the country making political points at the expense of vulnerable New Zealanders—some of whom come with high qualifications to work in New Zealand others who come to make their lives here and they are denigrated day after day by someone who does it for no other reason than to make cheap political capital. 
Most New Zealanders know it and I suspect that Don Brash and others in the National Party know it too. The idea of being in the Government again with someone like that holding any sort of responsibility must fill them with horror yet they have to somehow try to accommodate that. It would make me sick to think of doing it as a mature politician. 
We come along at Christmas time and get the refuge of the desperate politician. Just before Christmas Mr Prebble railed against law and order. I suggest to Mr Prebble that he should think about the chickens that have come home to roost in New Zealand over the last few years—the dysfunctional communities and families that we have seen the drugs and alcohol abuse and all the rest of it. I suggest that he looks in the mirror sometimes thinks back to the policies of 20 years ago and starts to ask himself how many of those policies are now bearing fruit in terms of the legacy that Governments like ours have had to pick up. 
I say to Mr Prebble that the legacy this Government will leave to future generations is far better than the one he left to us. I might not be here to actually experience it all but I am proud now of the legacy we are leaving because over the last 4 years we have left a better legacy for the next 10 or 20 years than anything that happened during the time that Mr Prebble or Mr Shirley were in Government. I remember those days well. 
 This has been a great year and a great period for New Zealand. We are one of the fastest-growing economies in the Western World. Members opposite cannot deny that. We have the lowest level of unemployment in 16 years. Would members opposite deny that? Every single region in New Zealand is in positive growth mode. The kids of New Zealand have a positive future not only in their own town or region but also in their own country. Those who left New Zealand in the last 20 years are coming back in droves because there is a future for them now in their own country. 
But the miserable members opposite will not celebrate that fact. They hope for some kind of failure for New Zealand so they can enthuse gleefully. Guess what! New Zealand is not failing; New Zealand is succeeding magnificently so Don Brash Winston Peters and Richard Prebble can eat their hearts out. Against a backdrop of the rest of the world which is not doing particularly well New Zealand is doing well. In the past when America Europe and Asia caught a cold we caught pneumonia but New Zealand has done extremely well in the last 4 years. We as a Parliament should be celebrating that fact. I ask Don Brash why the Opposition will not celebrate that New Zealand has done well. Why does he not say: “Gee it’s been good. Personally it would have been better if there had been a failure but there wasn’t and I have to give credit to the Government.”? But no the Opposition hopes that New Zealand will fail. It is a miserable position. 
We have 6000 to 7000 young kids who are apprentices. Four years ago we did not have that. There was a time in the 1980s and 1990s when the word “apprentice” was a dirty word in this country. It is not any longer. There is a future—[ 
Interruption 
] Oh well people who are cynical will laugh but not out in the regions where one meets the people who have their kids into apprenticeships and training. Young New Zealanders have a future in their own country so why not celebrate that? Mr Hide is trying to interject but he has never been young. I think he was born old so he has nothing to celebrate. This Government and its members have a lot of celebrate and I congratulate them. 
Today by a thumping majority New Zealand First Labour the Progressive party and the Greens passed an extra week’s leave to take effect in the future. I pay tribute to my colleague Matt Robson for championing that cause. I challenge the members who rail against it to say that if their party were elected to Government it would wipe out that fourth week of leave. Will they stand and say that they will wipe out that extra week? Every time extra public holidays have been given in this country the conservative Opposition and conservative employers have opposed them. They warned that the end of the world was nigh when we got a Christmas holiday an Easter holiday Waitangi Day Anzac Day and every other public holiday in any other week. 
If the National Party is serious it will say that whenever it gets elected—which will be quite a long time away—it will repeal the extra leave. I bet it will not—any more than members opposite are serious about opposing this adjournment of Parliament. They will say they oppose it but I bet quite a few of them have their holidays and flights booked already. It would come as a terrible shock to them if the adjournment motion were lost and they had to come back because they have all their holidays booked. Their words are just a sham. 
I will finish by saying that the National Party has had a change of leadership which is a regular occurrence but I congratulate Don Brash. However I want to pay my respects—and I mean this seriously—to Bill English for the mature and loyal way he accepted what must have been a very deep disappointment to him. I admire that and although I cannot mention that he is not here I think the way Bill English handled that defeat—and it is always disappointing for political leaders to lose their positions— 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: Ha ha! 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: I will say my words with sincerity to those people I respect so Mr Prebble will not hear much from me—ever.