Mallard Trevor: General Debates 
Mallard Trevor: General Debates 
[Volume:617;Page:12644] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister of Education) 
: 
 It would be remiss of any member not to refer to the group of people who are outside today. I want to acknowledge their presence acknowledge that people have very strong views on a piece of legislation acknowledge that the Government has some way to go in helping people understand what is in that legislation and also acknowledge that one of the important things we must do as a nation is to keep on acknowledging the different traditions and what is important to New Zealanders. That is what makes this country a great country—the fact that we can while agreeing to differ give to the traditions— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: It’s too late. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: It is not too late to acknowledge the traditions of different backgrounds. It might be a bit of a problem for Gerry Brownlee. 
Where is the puppet? Why was the puppet not allowed to speak today? Was he on a long string? Richard said he was not allowed to come to the House today. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I will not have reference to members; otherwise anybody can refer to anybody. The Minister was obviously referring to a member of the House. He will change to another tack. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I will change to another tack. I predict that the next National Party theme song at the general election will be Sandie Shaw’s  “Puppet on a String”. What we have heard from National Party members is that Richard Long—on television—claimed to be the one pulling the strings and the one who makes the mouth work is Murray McCully. When Murray McCully is not in the House the mouth cannot work. Sometimes he cannot even stand up by himself. It just frightens me that we have such a self-acknowledged problem. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is one of those interesting speeches that start to test the bounds of what is acceptable in Parliament. I notice that earlier in the afternoon it was quite unacceptable for a member on this side to make I think a fairly factual statement suggesting that the Prime Minister was cowering in her office and not prepared to speak to the hikoi. You quite rightly intervened and said that a member cannot say that the Prime Minister is a coward. We accept that we are not able to put that comment out there. However we now have a member suggesting that another member of this House somehow has nothing to say unless someone gives him the words to say which is quite untrue and does not engage in any activity or action unless he is directed by someone else. That is quite unacceptable. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: What is unacceptable is any suggestion that a member is being influenced by a member who is not a member of this House. That part of the Minister’s speech was out of order. I now warn him. I do not want to have to terminate his speech but he had better change tack. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: It is clear therefore for the purposes of what is said in this House that the strings are being pulled by Murray McCully. He is being influenced in the House by Murray McCully because the string is not long enough. The long string does not reach to the House; the short-string puppet is the one that Mr McCully runs. 
I want to say though that people will remember today. People will remember the National Party and the fact that the National Party did not have the courage of its convictions to abandon its nuclear policy in an open and transparent way. It is hiding under the skirts of Hone Harawira; that is what it is doing—hiding under Hone’s jacket. I do not know what is going on down there. I am not sure about relationships but why can the National Party not have the courage of its convictions? It has had the report for months. National Party members know what they will be doing. They know that they want to trade bodies for beef. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Is it in order for Mr Mallard to say that the National Party does not have the courage of its convictions when it has been ruled out of order for the National Party to say that the Prime Minister lacks courage and has spent the afternoon hiding in her office not wanting to speak to the hikoi protesters? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Courage of convictions has been allowed many times. To assume that a member does not have courage is out of order. I think the member was unduly breaking up the Minister’s speech on that occasion. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Can I ask you to address the nature of the comments made in the point of order the restatement of out-of-order comments by way of point of order and whether that is acceptable to you? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No it is not. There will be fewer people in this Chamber very shortly. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I want to go back to the essential point of this debate. Why would a party want to trade young New Zealanders’ bodies for beef? That was the approach that was rejected by New Zealanders in the 1970s. Why would that party want to abandon the nuclear policy that has been so roundly supported? I say to the National Party that it is about time it discovered some principles. It is about time it started to care about the standard of living for New Zealanders. It is also about time that the National Party had someone as leader in the House who knows when to stand up and when to sit down and not have someone to pull the strings to do so.