English Bill: Urgent Debates — Ministerial Resignation—Member for TamakiMakaurau 
English Bill: Urgent Debates — Ministerial Resignation—Member for TamakiMakaurau 
[Volume:621;Page:16539] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (National—Clutha-Southland) 
: 
 The Government has just lost its second Minister in 6 months for misleading the public. It is now time to ask what it is about the culture of the Labour Government that has meant that two of its rising stars two of its more capable Ministers have ended up losing their jobs. I say that it starts at the top. Even the way Helen Clark has handled this particular set of circumstances shows just how finely polished are the tools of deception in this Labour Government. 
The deception starts with small things like Ministers completely ignoring the Official Information Act. A couple of weeks ago in this House David Benson-Pope a junior Minister was shown to have completely breached the Official Information Act. He shamelessly got off apparently because according to Dr Cullen of some synonym in the letter he wrote. That is just one example. I deal regularly with the two education Ministers. Do they answer parliamentary questions on time? Never—not when it matters. Do they keep back information they should release? Every single time. Do they keep to the deadlines? Almost never. 
It starts with Helen Clark. This is a Prime Minister of New Zealand who in the course of an investigation over a forgery allegation refused to answer questions that the police asked her. She just refused to answer them. This is someone who attacked me when I suggested that our New Zealand troops should come back from Afghanistan when she had already decided to bring them back. She had already decided back in October 2002. She had decided 3 months before but said on the public record what a disgraceful idea it was. That is Helen Clark. That is how John Tamihere has found her over these last few weeks. 
I read in the  
Trans-Tasman 
 which used to be a venerable commentator— 
Simon Power 
: It used to be good. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
:—it used to be good—on Parliament about this Government’s high ethical standards. There is only one ethical standard in this Government: do not get caught. That is why John Tamihere’s resignation is without honour. He has known for 5 years that he took a golden handshake that he had said he would not take. He has known for that long. Actually I believe the Prime Minister has known for that long. Why did that man resign today? Was it because he owned up? No. Was it because Helen Clark found out and did something? No. In fact when she found out she did nothing—absolutely nothing. It was because he got caught. That is the only reason he resigned today. I challenge the next Government speaker to give any other reason. 
If this matter had not appeared in the media would John Tamihere have resigned? No. He would still be collecting his ministerial salary as he did up until today. He would still know he had taken a golden handshake in the knowledge that the Government had campaigned vigorously against such golden handshakes. The only standard in this Government is to not get caught. Every time Helen Clark will go as far as she can to get away with it. As Rodney Hide said what a difference a day makes. What happened was not that John Tamihere came to his senses and decided his position was untenable—that was evident to him or should have been the day it appeared in the media. What happened was that Helen Clark decided her position was untenable. She decided 3 weeks later that she could no longer get away with it. She had to cut and run. That is why he resigned today. If John Tamihere had any honour he would have fronted up to the facts 3 weeks ago. If Helen Clark had any standards she would have done exactly the same. 
There are broader issues involved in this than just compliance. I remember as the Minister of Health going to the Waipareira Trust. I remember talking to the people in the waiting room at the medical clinic. 
Hon Jim Sutton 
: That made them all vote National! 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The member should listen to this. Those people believed that the Waipareira Trust was there for them. They believed that the money the Government—and as a Minister I was representing that Government—was providing to the Waipareira Trust was to lift the health status of Maori. They believed that that money used properly would save lives that would otherwise be lost. 
Hon David Benson-Pope 
: We know what the National Party does don’t we. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: That is the problem with that Minister—he does not understand the morality of this. Those people believed that something good was being done. 
I do not care whether John Tamihere accurately filled out his electorate expense return. What I do know is that he took public money to pay himself to campaign as a candidate. I see candidates at every election who have to resign their jobs and live off their savings like I did to get elected into Parliament. He took money that we gave to that trust to save children who have asthma meningitis and whooping cough. He took it. He took money off that trust for a house and a car. It might be in a trust and might not have to be on his ministerial return but he took it. He took not a few thousand dollars but hundreds of thousands of dollars. 
That damages the confidence not just of Maori who supported John Tamihere but of people like me who thought it all looked credible and who believed the rhetoric about independence enterprise and self-reliance. That is what is so deeply dishonourable about what has happened. It is not just that he upset the Labour Party’s political plan about golden handshakes; it is that if that party thinks that $89 on a set of underpants was a grievous thing how much is it when one takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from the treatment of sick children and disadvantaged youth to line one’s own pocket? Let Helen Clark tell us what is so honourable about that. Whether or not John Tamihere is now in Cabinet does not matter. What matters is whether he will be able to hold his head up and stand in this Parliament knowing that hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for the most disadvantaged people in New Zealand with the best intentions of everyone involved went to lining his pocket. Mr Mallard should get up because he made the most fuss about the $89 underpants. What do I hear? 
The Labour Party will never understand this because it never thinks it can be wrong with public money. Really it believes the money belongs to it. That is what Labour has dragged Maoridom to as well—a whole culture of dependence and a moralism about public money. I do not think the Labour Party believes yet that a Labour Cabinet Minister could do wrong with public money. John Tamihere did. He has had to face the music. It was not honourable. Helen Clark has one standard: “Can you get away with it?”—and this time John Tamihere did not.