Bridges Simon: General Debate 
Bridges Simon: General Debate 
[Volume:673;Page:19604] 
SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 I do not know what the Hon Jim Anderton was talking about but I can tell from even this distance that that member needs to brush his teeth.  
We in this party unlike the party on the other side are focused on the things that matter: on the economy on educational standards and on doing something about crime which Labour has ignored. What is Labour focused on? Let us look at what Labour is focused on. It is focused on voluntary student membership or “VSM”. It is absolutely focused on voluntary student membership. Labour members are filibustering—that is not a world I like—other members’ bills— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Just wait and see. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: —sorry I can hear something—so that we do not get to the voluntary student membership bill. I can tell members that the people of Tauranga the people of Rotorua and the people of West Coast - Tasman do not even know what “VSM” is. 
Todd McClay 
: No they’ll tell them to go to the doctor. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: That is right. Some of them think it is a contagious disease they could get from members on the other side of the House. They do not know what it is but somehow that is where all the energy on the other side of the House goes. Why is Labour putting all of its efforts into that bill? If we were generous we could ask whether it is doing it on principle. Well no because the principles at stake in that bill are freedom and choice which are actually National Party values. That is why we are putting that bill ahead.  
I have concluded that Labour’s reason is purely and solely politics. We know on this side of the House that it does not take much thinking to see that for members opposite their main training ground—some would say their only training ground—is in the universities. Student politics is base camp training camp for Labour Party politicians. We could go through them. Grant Robertson is probably the main one we can think of. In his time he was the student union president of one Michael Woodhouse. Student politics is a Labour Party training ground.  
Labour members do not want to stand up for freedom and choice; they are filibustering on that bill purely because of politics. If I have learnt anything in 2½ years in this House it is that the Labour Party only ever focuses on politics. In fact that was “Helen Clark 101”—politics is all. Everything is about the politics and we see it in that bill.  
We also know that the member opposite Trevor Mallard is interested in sports. He is in a cycling competition. I understand that in his spare time he is also meant to be campaign manager for the Labour Party but why worry about that when he has a sports competition to worry about. As one Cameron Slater has said: “Duck really needs some anger management courses so he can concentrate on the campaign rather than fighting an asymmetrical war with a right-wing blogger he can’t win.” Yet that is where the Labour Party is at the moment: voluntary student membership bills that people do not understand cycling races that are asymmetrical and they cannot win and political stunts. I think John Carter called them cunning stunts and that is what we are seeing on the other side of the House.  
With the State-owned enterprises referendum legislation we have already established that because of Labour’s filibustering that bill has absolutely no chance of coming before this House. As John Armstrong said in I think yesterday’s newspaper Labour’s member’s bill has about much chance of becoming law as that famous rugby-playing country Namibia has of lifting the Rugby World Cup or probably even less. But unlike the New Zealand Labour Party Namibia’s Labour Party has at least some chance—and members can check this on the internet—of winning the next general election in that country.  
Why is it that Labour is putting forward the cheap politics of that bill? Why is that? If we look at the Prime Minister he has never sold a State asset but if we put him head to head with the leader of the Labour Party he has the best track record in this House of selling State assets in this country. 
Michael Woodhouse 
: How many has he sold? 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: It is a pretty solid record. In his career he has sold 17 State assets worth $9.49 billion. 
Todd McClay 
: Who did that? 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: That $9.49 billion worth of assets was sold by one Phil Goff. Maybe we should go through them. There was New Zealand Steel Petrocorp Health Computing Services Development Finance Corporation the Post Office the Shipping Corporation Air New Zealand Land Corporation Rural Banking and Finance Corporation and Government Printing—the list goes on. 
Debate interrupted.