Brown Peter: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Brown Peter: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Volume:636;Page:7221] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Well the new leader of the National Party has just made the same mistake as his predecessor Don Brash and as Dr Cullen has just made. He forgot to acknowledge that National will need a centre party if it wants to move from that side of the Chamber to the Government side. I have to say that I was frankly disappointed that Dr Cullen did not recognise or offer some thanks to his confidence and supply partners. We were not even amongst the people given thanks. [ 
Interruption 
] Oh it is all right now; I am offended. 
But we would like to thank the Labour Party. We needed it in order to get another 1000 police officers in 2008. We needed it in order to get more support staff. We needed it in order to increase the superannuation return. We needed it in order to support us in the introduction of a golden age card. We needed it in order to achieve some significant increases in funding for ElderCare. We needed the Labour Party in order to get a review of immigration law in this country. We needed it to support us in order to get the minimum wage raised to $12 per hour by the end of the term. We needed the Labour Party in order to implement some sound New Zealand First policies. We are grateful that it saw the light of day and supported us—even to the degree of getting a review of the Accident Compensation Corporation funding of physiotherapists. 
We are going home—hopefully safely—for Christmas as we do every year and on behalf of New Zealand First I would like to thank all the support people who assist us in Parliament. I thank you Madam Speaker your Deputy Speaker and your two Assistant Speakers basically for your fairness and your tolerance—and sometimes I know it must strain your tolerance keeping control of this place. We would like to thank the Parliamentary Service staff the staff of the Clerk of the House and all the  
Hansard  
people who do such a great job. We also extend our thanks to the messengers the security staff and indeed Bellamy’s catering staff. 
We also thank our support base who from time to time are quite critical of New Zealand First. 
Hon David Carter 
: How many? 
PETER BROWN 
: There are so many Mr Carter that we would fill the largest stadium in this country if we got them all together at one go. We would particularly like to thank the people who have rung in and emailed us today for taking a positive stance on the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill. There are people who have changed their minds and said that it is right that it should go to select committee. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Madam SPEAKER 
: There are levels of intervention that are acceptable and some that are not. 
PETER BROWN 
: The National Party members are filled with Christmas cheer so let them go a little bit. I say to those honourable members over there that they will get their opportunity to pull this bill apart—or put it together—at select committee. But there are members of the public who now recognise that the right thing to do is to send it to select committee so that they can have their say. They might disagree with it but they will have their say. All day today we have been getting emails and telephone calls from people who share that view. 
Hon Member 
: Yeah right! 
PETER BROWN 
: Yeah right. I hope when we depart from this House we will have an enjoyable time. I know that I and my colleagues in New Zealand First intend to. From my point of view I intend to become somewhat of a couch potato if my wife allows me. [ 
Interruption 
] I will be playing my fair share of beach cricket and beach volleyball do not worry about that. I will be back here slim and ready to go next year. But I hope I can sit down and watch some sport on television particularly British soccer. I hope I can see a match as stimulating as when Arsenal thumped the hell out of Spurs the other night three nil. I look forward intently to the matches over Christmas. 
On a final serious note I think we should spare a thought for the fact that some people will get involved in unsafe action particularly on our roads at this time. Undoubtedly some young people in particular will do something rather foolish on our roads. I urge them if anybody is listening and concerned to take it easy. Christmas is a festive season and life is much more important than driving some car in reckless fashion. I hope—[ 
Interruption 
] The member over there might think it is quite a frivolous matter. I get quite saddened as perhaps he can tell when I think that somebody who is alive right now will be killed on the roads between now and New Year’s Eve or maybe shortly afterwards. 
It is a sad aspect of Christmas and we have to spare a thought for those people and the families that are involved with them and equally so for the emergency services—the police and fire brigade in particular—who will go out while we are enjoying ourselves somewhere in this country and pick up off our roads the pieces and the mess of somebody who has been quite reckless. I ask Parliament to take note that that will unfortunately occur and it is worth reminding people that there is a sad side to this season. 
I hope we all have an enjoyable break I hope we all come back refreshed and I hope we all come back prepared to do our very best for this great little country and its people. Thank you Madam Speaker.