Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
[Volume:647;Page:16151] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) 
: 
 One of the interesting things is that the public of New Zealand has observed the mayhem among the current Government members. It is the sort of situation where no matter what they do it seems to turn bad for them. It is a situation where things that they think will go well for them go badly. 
One of the interesting things to observe amongst that mayhem has been the increased public scrutiny of the Hon David Cunliffe and what is more the increased respect he appears to be growing among the commentariat as the most likely successor to Helen Clark when she is defeated in this year’s election. They are saying this in coffee shops. They are saying this at bus stops. They are saying this in workplaces all over the place. But we know he is getting cut through when the Prime Minister comes to the House and refers to him as “David Conloffe” as she tries to knock him off his perch a little bit. 
But we also know he is getting a lot of traction when a very experienced politician like the Hon Phil Goff who has been here 25 years after first entering Parliament in 1981—he had a short stint out of Parliament but overall he has been in this House for 25 years—made the sort of comment he did on Alt TV the other night. He was not exactly up against a hard interrogator in Oliver Driver. This was no Lindsay Perigo no Mark Sainsbury and no Paul Cutler. It was Oliver Driver and many people will not even know who he is. I did not even know who he was until I heard about the interview. It was an opportunity for Phil Goff to express his long-held desire to lead the Labour Party. But more than that it was an opportunity to knock off all those near rivals. He had read in  
Trans Tasman 
 which apparently is now a sort of cheer sheet for Clayton Cosgrove that there are two contenders in the Labour Party—Mr Cunliffe and Mr Cosgrove—for the future leadership and he thought: “I haven’t been here for 25 years to have my chance knocked over by those two upstarts.” So he went out there and put himself right in it. It was fascinating to watch. Rather than backing off once he knew he had the media attention he simply announced: “It’s time for a change. The public want it and when it happens I’m available.” 
Why then are we in this situation? It is largely because Helen Clark and Michael Cullen have not been listening to what New Zealanders have been saying for a very long time. They have not been into a supermarket and seen what it is like to buy the weekly groceries. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: You’ve been into a supermarket! 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: That is right. I go to a supermarket very often. I tell the member that I am a big buyer and I know the price of cheese. But Helen Clark does not. Helen Clark has no idea what it is like to ration the milk on the cornflakes in the morning for the kids—no idea whatsoever. She is out of touch and that is why the environment has arisen whereby Phil Goff can start to contemplate replacing her after the election. 
The interesting thing though is that when we look at how things are shaping up it is clear that Annette King will be his running mate. But after her speech today I would say that he needs to look around and think about his other options. I noted the warm congratulations she received from other team members Darren Hughes and Rick Barker. But the confusing thing is that when I look at the Cosgrove team the Goff team the Clark team the Cunliffe team and at the outlying Shane Jones team I see that Rick Barker is in all of them. He is a remarkable man; he is in every one of them so I do not think I would rely too much on him. 
Another interesting thing is that Rick Baker recently announced that he will write a book when he leaves politics. A further interesting thing is that he has already announced the topic—“ 
20 Years in Politics: What I was doing when all that was going on 
”. I am sure that will be a great read but it somewhat typifies where Helen Clark has got herself to right now and where Michael Cullen has got himself to right now. They are not in touch with what New Zealanders are thinking and we will see a big demonstration of that tomorrow. 
I will finish my comments this afternoon by asking a very important question: is Phil Goff advising Clayton Cosgrove and David Cunliffe on how to manage their involvement in the immigration fiasco? I saw my colleague Lockwood Smith questioning them in the House today and I saw the shifty looks on their faces as they danced around the answers evaded what was the obvious and looked furtively towards Mr Goff who had a most impressive grin on his face as he saw them both squirming under that sort of questioning. So I think Mr Goff is advising his two near rivals on how to handle that particular matter. 
Tomorrow we will have a Budget read by the Government. It will not deliver what New Zealanders want.