Bennett David: General Debate 
Bennett David: General Debate 
[Volume:654;Page:2939] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 I feel sorry for the Labour Party. I feel very sorry for it because National has been exposing the obvious weaknesses in its line-up. But then one of the bright new lights—those Labour members whom Phil Goff is giving a year to prove themselves—stood up and performed like that. It is no wonder Phil Twyford could not even get a nomination for Mt Albert and no wonder he will not go further. It is no wonder that Phil Goff has to rely on the old boys in the front row. He will not promote young women. He will not promote people into the front row who could actually deliver for the Labour Party. No he has to go back to the old and tried ones he knows. 
Do members know why? Because Phil is worried. There is a strategy behind what Phil has done. He is worried. He knows that Trevor Mallard has never wanted to be leader so he will put him up there. But he will not look after the people who really want his leadership position. Where is Shane Jones in this promotion? Why is Shane Jones not taking on a decent position? If Shane Jones is to be the next leader of the Labour Party he should have a decent portfolio like education. They should not put him out on the side and just leave him there. Phil Goff put up Trevor Mallard because he knows that he can rely on Trevor not to want to take his job. That is what Phil Goff was thinking when he drew up this list. He was not thinking of what makes the Labour Party look good— 
Amy Adams 
: Nothing would! 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Well he was not thinking of that. He knows that his second-tier MPs who came in at the 2008 election will not help him out so he needed to have somebody whom he could control. Phil Goff moved Trevor Mallard to the front benches because he can control him. 
What has happened to Shane Jones? Where has Shane Jones been since the election? Shane Jones has not asked questions in this House. He has been distinctly absent. The reason is because Shane is waiting. Shane does not want to do anything he does not have to do because he knows that Phil is going to make mistakes. That is because Phil has nobody he can rely on. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is interesting to hear what interventions are made and what are not but that member has on about four occasions referred to members by their first names. You were very quick to— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member has made his point. I apologise that I did not pick that up. The member should not refer in this House to his colleagues by their first names. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: The strategy of the Leader of the Opposition is very much to keep down the people he thinks will be his competition after the next election. He knows that after the next election he will have big problems and Shane Jones is the one who would be next in line. So he is keeping him well back down the track. 
Members may ask about David Cunliffe who is sitting there. David Cunliffe has gone out and fired all his bullets. He has tried to be the big attack man for the— 
Hon John Carter 
: He didn’t have any. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: He was shooting blanks did the member say? But he tried to fire those bullets and they did not work. Bill English withstood David Cunliffe’s attack and beat him off— 
Hon Member 
: That wasn’t very hard. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: I know it was not very hard. That leaves David Cunliffe in a very difficult position because he tried and failed. Phil Goff knows that David Cunliffe tried and failed in the finance area so he will leave him there. He will leave him there to stew for the next 2 years knowing that his career prospects will get worse because he has failed in his portfolio. Shane Jones has been much smarter than David Cunliffe in accepting his position at the back. All Phil Goff is doing is surrounding himself with people he knows he can trust in the sense that they will not want to take his job off him. That is the front bench of Labour. I ask members to look at those members on the front bench. Have they got any integrity in going for leadership of the party? No. Of the ones that have David Cunliffe has been shown to be a failure in finance and the one who wants to be leader—Shane Jones—has not even moved to a position where he can prove himself. That is the whole strategy behind the realignment of the Labour members. 
The difficulty for Labour is that that consigns it to one place: to a loss at the next election. The only way Labour can even put up a fight at the next election is to have fresh faces to have a new-look Labour Party and it cannot do that with a Phil Goff - led team of people he knows will not take him on. That is the problem with Labour and that is how Phil Goff’s strategy is going to unfold in the next 3 years. The new members of Labour sitting in those back seats must be thinking to themselves that this is not good enough because they are going to lose what position they have in the House. The Phil Twyfords of this world who had a chance to stand in a seat having had that opportunity—