Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
[Volume:649;Page:17778] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) 
: 
 It has been a wee while since we have seen a vein-popper speech from Phil Goff. But we know that is just a bit of an audition for the Labour leadership post-election. That is all that is. Of course the saddest thing for him is there are very few of his colleagues here to watch him. 
This week Treasury has told the nation that we are officially in recession. So the difficulties that so many in our economy have been feeling for months now are finally acknowledged by Treasury. Treasury has finally caught up. When we have that acknowledgment given by Treasury we would think the Government of the day might come into the House and have something to say about how it might guide the nation through this difficult period. But no in the House today the Labour Party asked itself questions that were designed to embarrass the Opposition. This is an extraordinary thing. Normally the Opposition asks questions to embarrass the Government but the Government has slotted into this pre-election sort of role. So we had a question relating to Mr English and the time when he was Treasurer prior to 1999. We had a question about justice relating to sentencing prior to 1999. We had a question from Dr Ashraf Choudhary to Lockwood Smith talking about pre-1999— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Pre-1990! 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: In fact pre-1990 my colleague reminds me. Labour members went all the way back those 18 years. Then the final such question was to the Minister of Justice and once again it went back to pre-1999. 
So what we can see is a party totally bereft of ideas and a Prime Minister who went on  
Agenda 
 last Sunday and talked about the big plan. But the big plan has nothing in it; it is just a big plan. There is nothing in it. Then Labour members come into the House this week having decided in caucus: “We’ll simply scare the voters back to us.” That is their plan: scaring voters back. They have said: “We’ll fight the 1999 campaign.” They have also determined that if they cannot get hold of the voter by fair means then use foul. One thing that is an absolute fact is that much of the support that appears to be there for the National Party at the moment is given to John Key because people trust him. Labour has used a polling firm called UMR Research for years and UMR has done the work and people responded to its poll and said: “We trust Bill English.”—sorry “We trust John Key.” 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Ha ha! 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: What is wrong with that? Of course they trust Bill English. And they have said: “We trust John Key.” 
Labour members have said: “We’ve got to break that up.” So last weekend the Labour Party sent some hopeless little scrotes into our conference all geared up with the recording gear to try to get some mix and match stuff for the dirty tactics the Labour Party has applied this particular week. 
We might ask ourselves what sort of person actually gets into that sort of clandestine activity. Why could the Labour Party not gear itself up with some secret recording gear and go to a business around this country and ask why life is so tough? Why does the Labour Party not go to the households that are struggling to pay the mortgage and find out how life is so tough? Why does Labour not go to the households where people are struggling to put food on the table and pay school costs then come back with all that information and come up with something to put in that big plan? 
Last weekend while the Labour Party was putting together its campaign by infiltrating a conference and starting its dirty-tricks campaign John Key outlined 10 points for lifting the stakes in this nation. If anyone asks who is focused on the future of this country the simple answer is that it is National it is not— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member but I am getting to the stage where I cannot hear him. I refer members on my right to Speakers’ rulings 57/3. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I will start again with your permission Mr Assistant Speaker. How long do I have? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Half a minute. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: That is enough time to reiterate the point that the Labour Party started this dirty-tricks campaign and if its members over there laugh and say that it is not them why is the Prime Minister not able to say that she disagrees with this sort of tactic? Why is the Prime Minister not prepared to say that Labour disagrees with that sort of tactic? What we get from Helen Clark is shiftiness and comments like: “Well it wasn’t us.” Well they would say that. She will not go that step further and say that it is dirty tactics because that is what it is.