Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Madam Chair for the opportunity to take a call on this Supplementary Order Paper. I think the words need to be said: never again. Never again should we be in this House doing what this Government has done to our constitution and to its constitutional provisions around entrenchment. I've heard the rhetoric from members on the other side where they're trying to call this a mistake. They're trying to say it was a mistake that this even got into the bill in the first place. It was a mistake that they voted on it it was a mistake that it was there and We're just cleaning up a mistake."Well I ask the Minister: where did this mistake begin and when did they know it was a mistake if it actually was one? Are they thinking that New Zealanders are so foolish to think that this Government just operates on a whim? They just go "Oh well this Supplementary Order Paper we'll see how we'll vote on this one today shall we? We'll just vote—we might vote Yes on this one from the Green Party we might vote No for that one from the National Party." No this is not how this Government operates. They are deliberate they are intentional and they know what they are doing. The Minister knew full well what she was doing when she authorised the Labour Party to support the Supplementary Order Paper from the Greens. And so I call out the language which we are hearing from the Government from the Prime Minister from the Minister from others saying this was just a mistake because mistakes like this—one they shouldn't happen; and secondly they don't just happen particularly when it comes to such important provisions around entrenchment in our legislation. We've seen the commentary from the constitutional lawyers the Law Society and others who have called out this Government.The speech from the Hon David Parker—he almost sounded like a true believer. It almost sounded like he was the guy actually speaking against the Supplementary Order Paper that was installed in the first place when he actually voted for it to be put in the bill. He voted for that Supplementary Order Paper to go through. And there he is with all of the arrogance of this Labour Government to say "Actually no I disagree with that approach and it shouldn't happen." and to give us a lecture—a lecture—as to why this shouldn't happen again. Well shame on this Government for putting this country through this. They say "Well it didn't happen." Well it didn't happen because they were caught out. They were caught out by the public of New Zealand the constitutional watchdogs the media and the National and ACT parties who stood up against this constitutional outrage and said "This is enough this is not right and it should stop because it sets an incredibly bad precedent."I say never again because never again should be what all members of this Parliament are saying. But I note that the Green Party in their righteousness—superiority should I say their righteous superiority are still intending to support this Supplementary Order Paper because they think it's the right thing to do. Well what National Party policy should be entrenched that you don't like Green Party? Because that's the kind of question that the Green Party needs to think about in supporting this Supplementary Order Paper because there will be a range of policies that you don't agree with from across this House which if those parties entrenched those political views the Green Party would be calling out a constitutional outrage and rightly so.But where's the consistency? The Green Party used to stand up in this Parliament and they used to be the conscience of democracy. They used to stand against urgency being used they used to stand against the constitutional outrage that we're seeing here. But they've lost all of their principles and this vote that they're about to push tonight just shows they had none in the first place. And so I call out the Green Party for their moral superiority which has completely completely gone tonight. I call out the Government for saying that this was just a mistake because it clearly wasn't. I ask the Minister to take a call and explain to the House and answer the questions that my colleague the Hon Paul Goldsmith has very articulately placed on the Chamber to say: when did the Government make these decisions? Was it a political mistake? Was it a legal mistake? Was it just simply an error in terms of how they decided to vote? And when were those decisions actually made?I think my colleague Simon Watts had a question which was not answered in question time today which was: did Cabinet authorise the Minister to make those decisions and if so when? The Minister needs to answer those questions and put the actual facts out there for the public because they've had enough. They've said "Never again." I hope we never see this happening again in this Parliament."