Bennett Paula: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett Paula: General Debate[Sitting date: 25 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2582. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister of Local Government):If there is any cricket analogy that does make sense it is that Winston is probably the twelfth man for Labour and that means he is good at getting the drinks. Yeah? He would be good as the drinks boy and that is about it. You have got to say that Labour members have got to be pretty antsy and a bit nervous at the moment if Winston Peters is seen as their saviour. Winston Peters is the man who you know strides into town on a bus and those members throw their own candidate underneath it and hope for the best. But if there is one person who perhaps was a little bit worried about that particular debate from that particular member Ron Mark—she has left now—it was Tracey Martin who certainly felt concerned because that was a succession speech if ever I heard one.Hon Simon Bridges: That’s what that was.Hon PAULA BENNETT: Eh? That was a succession speech if ever I heard one from someone who sees himself ready to step up and take the reins of the great bus that is New Zealand First.I was thinking about Brendon McCullum and what a great job he did yesterday. I tell you what there are some weird things that happen in life and one was me sitting alone watching cricket totally engrossed and never believing that I would be that interested in that sport quite frankly or to be as absolutely engrossed as I am. But it does bring up the cricket analogy as well. Just to be quite clear Winston Peters was trying to run for Northland before Brendon McCullum was even born. Yeah? And then he probably has not visited in his aspect as an MP since Brendon actually was born because Winston Peters goes back only for his holidays and not actually to care about the particular area or about what needs to be done. But we will see what happens there and times will be interesting.I will say though that the people of Northland at first were a little bit—I have got to say you know Winston was there in the bus and they kind of stopped and took stock for a moment and were not quite expecting him. But they really have got a bit sick of being talked down to. So at first they did sort of go—they are a bit sick of him. And did you notice that the members’ debate was all about how awful Northland is how awfully things are going how terrible things are and how bad it is—you know it is so bad up in Northland. I actually think that it is one of the most incredible regions in this country as it has more going for it than most of them do and it is pretty damned incredible. So does our candidate Mark Osborne and that is what National stands for. So the little rhetoric of talking them down and saying how bad things are you know might have initially got a bit of TV coverage but the people of Northland they know how great the place that they live in is they know how great they are and they do not believe in the negativity from New Zealand First which quite frankly they are hearing all the time.So Labour really is in a bit of disarray over here. Here those members are sort of struggling along and then the person whom they have got to look at as their great shining light is Winston Peters. So they throw their own candidate Willow-Jean Prime under the Winston Peters bus. She is actually quite an awesome woman from some accounts up north I have got to say. There is quite a bit of respect for her there and they think that she is actually a strong candidate who could do a really good job—those of course who do not support our wonderful candidate Mark Osborne. But under the bus she goes not even overtly but covertly. So they have not got the actual chutzpah to stand up and actually say: “This is what we believe but we will all secretly hope that Winston is our great saviour up there because things are not going so well for Labour itself.”So let us take the housing policy. Obviously the member Phil Twyford is getting ready for his great debate. He is ready to get up there and give it stick. Those members do not know where they stand on housing. So it is State housing that Labour largely ignored—build a couple more houses and the job is done. It does not matter that they are in the wrong place with the wrong people and are not actually addressing the needs of tenants. That is pretty much like: “Just tick that box and we have done our housing policy and everything is all right.” The member blatantly gets up and in speeches says that he supports growing community housing providers. He says private sector investment is part of that—local government and central government. He blatantly says it all of the time. He makes up quite frankly real stories and untruths about this Government trying to flog heaps off to private developers which I right now put on the record as saying is untrue. It is point-blank untrue.What we stand for are tenants. What we stand for and will make a difference on is actually people who have been left behind largely ignored for generations and who now deserve to have the right kinds of services wrapped around them by the right kind of community providers. That takes leadership. It means standing up for something and backing those providers with the right level of funding and the right level of support around them. That is what we stand for and that is what we believe in.