Williamson Maurice: General Debate 
Williamson Maurice: General Debate 
[Volume:624;Page:19653] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (National—Pakuranga) 
: 
 I know of at least one doctor and one nurse who will be cut after the next election: Dr Cullen and nurse Annette King. But I want to start today with a quote. The quote goes like this: “Like Theodore Roosevelt’s Gladiator in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood who strives valiantly to spend themselves in a worthy cause and who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievements and who at worst if they fail at least fail while daring greatly so that their place shall never be with the more cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” 
I wonder why I would start a speech with a quote like that. Who said that? 
John Carter 
: Who did? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: It was said by John Tamihere to the Waitakere Rotary Club on 19 January this year. So the  
Investigate 
 magazine interview can have come as no surprise to the Labour Party because John Tamihere signalled his intention to go on the attack rather than to be with the cold and lifeless souls he was amongst. I think the man Teddy Roosevelt was speaking about is the kind of guy John Tamihere absolutely sees himself as being: a gladiator in the arena of life the risk taker the warrior the one willing to go all out and put it all on the line in pursuit of his dream. That is what John Tamihere said the man who takes control of his destiny antes up and puts it all on the table—well actually all into the tape deck on the table—knowing that it is better to dare greatly and fail than to play it safe. 
I want to go into a few things that John Tamihere said. One could get into some of the personal abuse of some of the Government members but I am not sure that that is actually very productive. My kids now think that “smarmy Maharey” is a character out of a Hairy McClary book and they did not know what “smarmy Maharey” meant when I tried to explain it. So we got out the dictionary and found out what “smarmy” means. Members should listen to this: it means sycophantic oily slimy grovelling creepy and unctuous—and those are probably just Mr Maharey’s good points. That is what a member of the same caucus as Mr Maharey said about him. As for John Tamihere calling Chris Carter a “queer tosser” again my kids could not work that out. My boy thought a tosser was a Scotsman who chucked big cabers. So he thought a queer tosser would be a Scotsman who tossed the caber behind himself. They could not work out what a queer tosser was. 
John Tamihere said that Mark Gosche was sent here to Parliament by the union movement but was a total disappointment—well we agree with that—so now Labour was bringing in the big guns in the form of Maryan Street. I have to say that she actually gets the trifecta when it comes to John Tamihere’s score card: she is a woman she is a lesbian and she was the Labour Party president. But I tell John Tamihere that Maryan Street also gets a bonus ball. She gets an extra ball because she was the head of the trade union study centre at Auckland University—she gets more than the trifecta. John Tamihere takes David Cunliffe to pieces. He says David Cunliffe screwed up the mods. I do not know who the rockers are. I know some of the Labour members are off their rocker but I do not know who the rockers are. But John Tamihere said David Cunliffe screwed up the mods through his naked ambition. That is what John Tamihere said about a member of the same caucus as himself. Then he said Dr Cullen can deal with a piece of legislation as we all know and he can dupe other members by changing a word. I want the people in this House to start to identify themselves. Are they “dupor” or “dupee”? They should get into lines one to the left and one to the right—“dupors” to the right and “dupees” to the left. “Dupees” in case United Future does not know this are those who were done over. 
When it comes to one of John Tamihere’s key targets I admit to this House that even I am too timid to use her name. It is that other “H” person in charge on the ninth floor. I find it hard to say this: I will not use her name because she puts shivers up my spine. I will call her “H2”—a very good reference point for the cold and timid souls that John Tamihere was talking about. He said that “H2”—that is all I will call her—is dangerous. She is a very dangerous woman and I want New Zealanders to know she is running the country. 
So the issue comes down to this. Let us listen to what the  
New Zealand Herald  
states about John Tamihere: “But he has been honest too…. If his observations did not ring true his colleagues would be laughing them off.”—and they are doing anything but laughing them off. Here are the options we now need to face. If what John Tamihere has been saying is the truth then he simply cannot stay with that lot. Again the  
New Zealand Herald  
editorial states: “… Mr Tamihere ought to leave Labour now with his pride intact and go to the election as the individual he is.” If Mr Tamihere is telling the truth that is the one option—he should go. If he is not then the Labour Party should throw him out.