Shanks Katrina: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShanks Katrina: General Debate[Sitting date: 04 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13252. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KATRINA SHANKS (National): It is my pleasure to take a call in this general debate today. On 15 September the weird and wacky reality TV show has its finale and a new leader of the Labour Party will emerge. Not only that but we have only 11 more episodes of this TV show to go.Hon Trevor Mallard: Has this member ever won an election?KATRINA SHANKS: The question Mr Mallard is whether contender Grant contender Shane or contender David will be the winner of this contest. The question the Labour caucus members are asking themselves is when one of these contenders Grant Shane or David does become the leader of the Labour Party—and they have been going around creating these policies on the run which they are going to have to stand by in the 2014 election and which the caucus has not bought into which the party has not bought into which they have not costed and which they have not consulted on with the sector—in 2014 when the caucus has to stand united behind this leader with policies that the caucus has not bought into and has not discussed what is going to happen? I can tell you right now. The caucus will not be united. There will be infighting and Labour will not be the Government in 2014. There is no way it possibly can be not when those contenders are making policy on the run like this by one person in isolation.It is really interesting when you look at these policies of contenders No. 1 No. 2 and No. 3 because these policies do not reflect what New Zealanders are concerned about. They do not reflect education. They do not talk about health care. They do not talk about crime and law and order. They do not talk about job growth. They do not talk about housing affordability. All the big issues that face New Zealand contestants No. 1 No. 2 and No. 3 do not even address. That shows you how out of touch the Labour Party is and how out of touch the potential leaders of this Labour Party will be.We listen to and we read and we hear all the commentary from the contenders about what these policies are going to look like and the one really interesting policy they all have is creating wealth through legislation. How do you do that? How do you create wealth through legislation?Hon Chester Borrows: You can’t.KATRINA SHANKS: You cannot. How do you create wealth? You create it through companies. You create it through the companies and their investing in themselves emerging companies going to markets companies creating products that are high tech and high value then employing more people in high-growth areas in high-growth jobs that pay a lot of money. That is how you create wealth for a country not through legislation.What are some of these policies? Well why do I not start with Shane Jones? I like his. He has got a couple of really good ones. I like it when he says: “I will not write one single cheque the Labour Party cannot cash.” I believe in that. I believe that that is right. You should not promise something you cannot deliver. But then he goes on to say unfortunately that he will increase the minimum wage. I do not quite know how that is going to flow out. He says he is going to give tax incentives for businesses to invest in the regions. Yes we all want to grow businesses. We agree with that. But taxincentives—has he costed that out? I think maybe not. He is going to extend the rail link to Northport.The one thing I do really like about his policy is supporting mining. In his words “I’d rather have the young people of the north with a shovel in their hand rather than wandering around picking locks.” He says that this should not be a shocking stance from someone in the Labour Party as it was born from mining. He said: “I want to see little brown Kiwis staying at home and not going to Australia. If that means offending the Greens from time to time such is life.” I will tell you what—that is about the most sensible thing any of these potential leaders have said yet.When I look over at the Labour caucus sitting opposite me the members who are in the House none is engaged in this conversation. None is jumping up and saying: “I support this contender.” They are all silently sitting there looking down embarrassed knowing that the potential leader has committed that caucus to policies it has not bought into. Thank you.