Quinn Paul: General Debate 
Quinn Paul: General Debate 
[Volume:676;Page:21737] 
PAUL QUINN (National) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker. Tena koutou e te Whare. In the general debate last week comment was made from this side of the House about the fact that gone from the Labour Party hoardings was the brushed photo of their leader. There was not any acknowledgment of someone called Phil Goff who apparently is the leader of the Labour Party. In fact they are all running. I do not know I am not too sure but I have heard on good authority that even in Mount Roskill there are no photos of Phil Goff. I have not vetted that for myself but I have heard it on good authority. Of course this week Labour Party members have realised that going it alone in one’s own electorate and running a constituent campaign does not work either. So what have they decided to do? Well they have decided to climb on the bandwagon of the All Blacks. Now we see these banners saying something like “When things look black we’re at our best.” Do members know what? If they were to substitute the word “back” for “black” then they would be right. When someone or the community or someone whom Labour members do not like looks back looks them in the face and confronts them then they are at their best. Do members know what that best is? It is nasty nasty politics. That is what we get from them. We look at them we front up to them we have them on we challenge them and what do they do? They get nasty. They get very nasty. 
Let us have a look at some examples. The most recent one is Darien Fenton who said of Sir Peter Leitch: “I choose not to buy stuff from those who support Tories” and that he is a sycophant. She accused him of sucking up to the Prime Minister. Well hello! When did I hear her talking about that when Sir Peter Leitch was entertaining Helen Clark? 
Let us have a look at Clare Curran. She said she has“had a gutsful of the white-anting of Labour from both the right and the left of politics.” She then climbed into the Greens for encroaching on Labour Party policy—GST off vegetables and food. This is the Greens’ policy which Labour has pinched. Labour has no ideas of its own. 
Stuart Nash 
: What? Maurice! Help him out Maurice. 
PAUL QUINN 
: As for Mr Nash I will come to him in a minute. The fact of the matter is that we have all heard the story about rats and mice and sinking ships. The problem with the Labour Party is that talent is being sacrificed. That is the problem with the Labour Party. Their talent is being sacrificed. Let us look at Kelvin Davis. On current polling Kelvin Davis ain’t going to make it and neither is Stuart Nash who has a few hiccups but has promise and some talent. It is just a pity he does not quote on the floor of the House the full Gareth Morgan quote about a capital gains tax. Gareth Morgan is on record as saying that a capital gains tax works only if it is comprehensive and not cherry-picked. It is about time that Stuart Nash faced that. If Labour is going to have a capital gains tax at all it cannot cherry-pick. Every authority tells us that. 
I see that Mr Mallard has arrived. Let me quote from the  
Dominion Post  
in March. He is the member who said he would not be standing again for Parliament if Labour is not going to get into Government.