Cullen Michael: General Debate 
Cullen Michael: General Debate 
[Volume:637;Page:7971] 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Deputy Prime Minister) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. We saw something interesting in the House this afternoon. Mr Key Mr English and Mr Brownlee asked questions of the same Minister. Mr Brownlee was the most effective Mr English was the best prepared and Mr Key was a total flop. What that tells us is that the honeymoon is coming to an end for the new National Party leadership. It is marked by two major trends: first the growing differences between the two leaders Mr English and Mr Key; and secondly the mounting pile of flip-flops on policy. 
Mr Key’s problem is that he knows what he wants; he wants to be Prime Minister. But his problem is that he does not know why he wants the job nor what he wants to do with it and that is becoming clearer and clearer. This is a man who does not even know where he lives. Where does Mr Key live? 
Hon Member 
: It’s pathetic. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Indeed it is pathetic. Mr English is right—it is pathetic that Mr Key does not know where he lives. 
On  
Agenda 
 on Saturday morning there was a great debate around Hobsonville where Mr Key says he lives. Well what is the palace on three sections in Parnell about then? Is that the holiday home for Mr Key? Is that not where he actually lives? Or does he just live there for electoral purposes whereas for social purposes he lives in Parnell? The thing about the Hobsonville debate is that it is about housing. Mr Key wants to give muesli bars to the underclass but he wants to give them muesli bars to keep them away from living in Hobsonville—in his electorate. The last thing he wants is to have State houses in Hobsonville and have to explain that to his voters. 
But what about the differences? I rehearsed those yesterday. Mr English is now the new fiscal conservative. He said there is no room for large tax cuts. A week before Mr English’s statement Mr Key said that there was plenty of room and that there was not an inflation problem. Then he said—after Mr English—that they are not big tax cuts anyway and that National was never going to have big bang tax cuts. Well what was all that excitement in the press gallery about I wonder? When it was all taken away from them I noticed that it was not even reported on television—no tax cuts. 
Then of course we have had all these other ones. Mr Key said that National will not have a bar of the Exclusive Brethren—not even a muesli bar. Then Mr English goes and meets them in his electorate office in Invercargill! 
Hon Bill English 
: I seek leave to make a personal explanation. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member seeks leave to make a personal explanation. Is there any objection? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: In the middle of a speech—yes there is. The member should make it at the end. There is objection. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: It is a personal explanation? 
Hon Bill English 
: I seek leave to make a personal explanation. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Is there any objection to that? There is. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: So Mr English meets the Exclusive Brethren and now we are beginning to realise why the honeymoon lasted as long as it did. Mr Key and Mr English could not agree which way up to hold the sex manual during the honeymoon. That was the problem they faced. 
Then of course we have had all these promises about spending. Just this afternoon Mr English said that we should cut Government spending and Mr Ryall said that we need more money for radiotherapy Dr Blue said that we need more money for Herceptin and Mr Finlayson said that we need more money for Waitangi Treaty settlements. Mr Key says that we should have free lunches and free breakfasts and that we should pour money into sport and into community-based solutions; Mr English says we should cut back Government spending. It is just this series of flip-flops—flip-flops on every topic one after another. 
It is because of Mr Key’s weakness. When he is faced with a question from the media that he does not like and that exposes a problem in National’s policy he backs off from the policy. It is not thought through. He never thought through the policy on State house rentals. There was no discussion in the National Party caucus about backing off from State houses going to market rentals. He just responded to a question and said: “I am out of here”—and Dr Smith is nodding his head in disagreement. That just goes to show what happens. 
Mr Key even said on  
Agenda 
—members should get this one—“We made it quite clear that National would not have sent troops to Iraq.” Well hang on a minute. At the time Mr English said that National would have sent troops to Iraq. Dr Brash said when he was leader that if he had been there at the time they would have sent troops to Iraq but later on he changed his mind. Why did Mr Key say that? Because he knows that New Zealanders did not want to send troops to Iraq. Yet of course he claims: “All I want to do is to change the tone of things.” The tone of things! Iraq market-based rentals and everything else is out of the window and jettisoned.