Jones Dail: General Debate 
Jones Dail: General Debate 
[Volume:626;Page:21152] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 The issue that I wish to talk about today on behalf of New Zealand First relates to the future of New Zealand and just where New Zealand is going and I would like to do so without indulging in the old two-party engagement across the floor of the House whereby those members spend all their time attacking each other without giving us any policies. If New Zealand is to move ahead into the future bearing in mind that we are the only First World country with an agricultural base we have an obvious need to decide what the size of our population should be. I believe that none of the other political parties has even bothered to consider the road that New Zealand should take for the future or the size of our population and our population growth. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Set it out for us—you know. 
DAIL JONES 
: Obviously I will set it out for Mr Brownlee because he would be incapable of even thinking of a problem let alone coming to an answer to it. I know that Mr Brownlee would like to have more cafes and more coffee bars in Fendalton than we can possibly sustain but we in New Zealand First are concerned about just where we are heading. 
Our election policy makes it clear that we intend to stop the knee-jerk annual immigration planning and start working on 10-year and 25-year plans for New Zealand. We want to establish long-term labour market demands and import the skills needed if sufficient New Zealanders cannot be trained. We want to target people with the skills needed and ensure that migrants have jobs to go to. We want to consult New Zealanders about the make-up of those people coming here and we want to introduce a targeted programme aimed at retaining skilled New Zealanders and encouraging others offshore to return. What should the population of New Zealand be? Under New Zealand First the people of New Zealand will be given the chance to say. That decision will be made not by the Prime Minister not by a group of Ministers not by the news media not by a newspaper editor having a bad day and not by a political commentator. In a rather original way we will consult the people of New Zealand. 
Currently we have in this Parliament a number of select committees some of which are an absolute waste of time. We have a “hate speech” select committee at the moment. We have to be careful what we say in this Parliament—[ 
Interruption 
] I tell Ms Pettis to be careful what she says. It might be hate speech and then she will get a rap over the knuckles and be fined. What a ridiculous select committee! Another select committee is looking at our constitution. New Zealand First wants to make sure that the people of New Zealand are consulted about where we go and a select committee to look at where we are going would be a very good way in my view of letting members of Parliament know what the people of New Zealand think. 
I suspect that many of the members of Parliament who make speeches about our population do not actually get out there and meet some of the people of New Zealand who are concerned about what is happening to this country. It is very easy to say and we all say in the Christian way that we should love our neighbour. But in New Zealand today we are never quite sure who our neighbour is or who our neighbour is going to be even with the best intentions in the world. We as a Parliament have a responsibility to make sure that some steps are taken in that way. 
Another problem we have with population growth and the number of people coming here is with regard to our environment. Many many years ago when I was beginning to take an interest in politics I had a look at the Values Party in 1973. One of the policies of that party concerned population control and population growth because that is the essence of our country’s environment. What is the greatest danger to the environment? It is humankind; it is the number of people we have in the country. The sad thing about the Green Party today is that it takes no notice of the number of people coming to New Zealand and that is totally contrary to that basic requirement of a proper environment policy—namely how many people we have here. The Greens are not greenies; they are virtually green-less in that respect. As the population expands one of the issues that arises—it arose in the early 1970s and I as member of Parliament dealt with it in the 1975-78 years—is the question of nuclear power. The more people we have coming into New Zealand—[ 
Interruption 
] and the Greens can disagree—the more the cry is: “Let’s have nuclear power.” I am opposed to nuclear power in New Zealand. 
Darren Hughes 
: Really? 
DAIL JONES 
: Yes. But maybe some of the other members of the Labour Party support it and maybe the Greens support it. There will be greater and greater demand for nuclear power with the more and more people we have living in New Zealand. However New Zealand First says that we should have a look at this issue. One of our policies is to have the greater use of public referenda and consultation by way of referendum on that type of issue.