Goff Phil: General Debate 
Goff Phil: General Debate 
[Volume:645;Page:14623] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Defence) 
: 
 The Leader of the Opposition John Key led off the Wednesday debate today. “Slippery John” they are calling him in the media because one cannot get a straight answer from the man as to whether he supports the sale overseas of New Zealand’s strategic assets. Let us read the transcript from last night. Questioner: “Mr Key do you support what the Labour Government did last night?” Mr Key: “Well no we’ve got to think very carefully about making a change.” Questioner: “So no you don’t support it?”. Mr Key: “Well I mean it’s hard to understand what they mean.” Questioner: “You don’t support it then? I just want to get this clear.” Mr Key: “Well we just need to have a look and see exactly what they’re doing.” Then it went on and on. 
John Key would not give a straight answer as to whether the National Party supported the sale overseas of New Zealand’s strategic assets. Why did he not do that? He did not do that because of the advice a man called Keenan gave him as reported in that book  
The Hollow Men: A study in the politics of deception.  
Mr Keenan said to John Key: “You’ve got to drop publicly unpopular policies. You’ve got to drop publicly unpopular policies or at least public promotion of them.” He has not dropped the policy. John Key would sell this country down the road but he will not own up to doing that before the election because he is under orders from Mr Keenan that he should not adopt publicly unpopular policies. Then Mr Keenan said: “John you’ve got to say what makes your party look good. Get the public’s mind off what makes the party look bad and keep repeating things about the Government until people believe it.” Then there was the crowning piece of advice and members should listen to this: “The secret of success is sincerity and conviction. Once you fake that then you’ve got it made.” That was the advice given to John Key by Mr Keenan National’s campaign adviser. There it is in black and white a secret email never meant to be published but published nevertheless; a true account of what guides this National Party policy. 
Mr Key is generally faithful to that advice but every now and again the mask slips and it slipped a couple of weeks ago did it not? We had that situation up in Northland where he was reported to have said in Kerikeri that National “would love to see wages drop.” Whoops! What! National would love to see wages drop? Then there were the excuses. Mr Key’s first excuse was: “Oh it was just a light-hearted reference.” Well that did not go down very well so he changed the excuse. He said: “Actually I was talking about Australian wages. It was Australian wages I wanted to see drop.” That had no credibility. So what did he do then? The third excuse was the best. He said that he did not say it at all. First of all he said it was light-hearted then that he was talking about the Australians and then he denied even saying it. 
What does that remind members of? It reminds members of the man who said he wanted New Zealanders fighting in Iraq then came out and said that he never believed that. He was on record on that one. He was not telling the truth when he made the denial and he is not telling the truth about saying he would like to see New Zealand wages drop. We have heard this all before and the public is aware of it. In 1990 National members in Opposition said they would not cut overtime rates and they would not cut rates on shift work. They lied then and they did it. They cut those wage rates and they are not telling the truth now. They are not saying what they will do. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Tell us about your illegal spending. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Lockwood Smith should not open his mouth. That man said he would cut out student fees and if he did not do that he would resign. He increased student fees and he never resigned. Dr Smith should not blame the students now. A couple of weeks ago he said that interest-free student loans would be opposed by National members with every bone in their bodies and they now say that they will support it. Well I credit students with a bit more nous than to believe another lie like those they were told in 1990. Dr Smith remembers that because he was on the platform with me and he said that time and again. Then of course there are the superannuitants who were told there would be no surtax no ifs no buts no maybes. National increased the surtax and Bill English then cut national superannuation from 66 percent to 60 percent.