Adams Amy: General Debate 
Adams Amy: General Debate 
[Volume:654;Page:2942] 
AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
: 
 There was big news this week from the Labour camp with the big media scrum finally making its way into the Leader of the Opposition’s office—he must have enjoyed it; it has been a long time between drinks in that regard—and what was the big news? It was the big rebuild. Phil Goff was finally getting to make his mark. He was finally rebuilding the party in the image that he wanted. This was it. This was the big news. 
What was the overwhelming response from everyone else? It was to borrow a phrase from the Flight of the Conchords: “Is that it?”. Is that all the Labour Party has to offer? It is Labour’s fresh new look. It looks like a Tui billboard—“Yeah right!”. What we have now on the Labour benches is a combination of dead wood and those who are going nowhere fast. 
If the Labour Party thinks that the members on its front bench who have been in Parliament for a combined 155 years— 
Paul Quinn 
: Oh so last year! 
AMY ADAMS 
: That is what it is. They have spent a combined 155 years on the front bench. None of them can make it down to the Chamber this afternoon it seems. But if those members think that the fresh new look will appeal and make them more attractive to the voters of New Zealand then I suggest they are still suffering from the “out of touch-itis” that cost them the last election. 
Iain Lees-Galloway 
: Where did you borrow that from? 
AMY ADAMS 
: I do not borrow my quotes; I come up with my own. 
I have to say that on coming into Parliament as a new member I could not help but notice the sense of entitlement that Labour MPs seem to have. It seeps out of every pore. They have a sense of entitlement to the Government benches. It is palpable. 
As a new member I want to know and my colleagues may help me out whether Labour members were always as angry and bitter as this. Have they always been as angry and bitter as this or have they not yet dealt with the fact that the country summarily rejected them last November? Perhaps they were always as angry and bitter as this; it is hard to know. 
In all fairness though I do feel a bit sorry for the Labour Party. It is languishing in the polls its leader barely registers in most of the polls and what is worse— 
Paul Quinn 
: Who is their leader at the moment? 
AMY ADAMS 
: No one really knows. “Phil-in” “Phil-out”; who knows. This week I think it is Phil Goff next week “watch this space”. 
It must have been really galling for Labour members over the past 6 months to vote in favour of the vast majority of the bills the Government has put up. 
Hon Members 
: That’s because they were our bills. 
AMY ADAMS 
: Oh I knew they would go there! What have we heard from them over those 6 months was “We thought of it.” and “It was our idea.” I say to them: “Guess what we are doing it.” That is the difference between the National Government and the previous Labour Government. We get things done. Labour introduced those bills and talked about them but did not get things done. We have been in Parliament for 6 months and we have passed those bills introduced by the previous Government. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: These bills were on the Order Paper before the election. 
AMY ADAMS 
: They might have been on the Order Paper but we are passing them through the House I say to Mr Hughes. Labour did not manage that. The country will remember which Government delivered. 
Members opposite have had to vote for those bills because they know that New Zealand wants what National is offering. Labour members know that and do not want to go on the record as opposing this stuff because it makes sense. That is a hard pill to swallow but that is the reality. 
Labour members despite their deep distrust of anything that helps the economy know that New Zealand wants a stronger economy. They know that New Zealand wants an economy that will recover well from this recession. They know that New Zealand wants a better future for its children and an education system that does not underperform. They know that New Zealand wants safer communities. This Government is providing those things and that is why it is doing well. That is why this Government is strong in the polls and why John Key is so well respected whereas Labour’s leader barely manages any showing in the polls at all. 
I ask members to look across the Chamber at the bright young things in Labour’s 2008 intake. They have been much talked about but when push came to shove what did Phil Goff do with his bright young intake? He did nothing. [ 
Interruption 
] Jacinda Ardern made her intentions clear when she came into the Chamber and sat in her leader’s chair within the first couple of months. Well I am sorry to say she will have to wait a little longer.