Key John: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Key John: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Volume:644;Page:14058] 
JOHN KEY (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 That speech from the Deputy Prime Minister was remarkable on several fronts. It lacked any of the one-liners vitriol grunt or vigour that we normally hear from the Deputy Prime Minister—and frankly it lacked anyone from the Labour Party listening to it. There is no one there. They have packed up and gone for the year. They did not realise we were coming back on Tuesday. 
As is traditional at this time of the year I take this opportunity to thank you Madam Speaker and thank all those who make this Parliament function the way it does. Madam Speaker I rely on you for your sense of humour at times and for your indulgence. I thank the Deputy Speaker Clem Simich and the Assistant Speakers Ross Robertson and Ann Hartley. I thank the Clerk of the House Mary Harris and I congratulate her on her new job. I acknowledge the great work of David McGee when he was previously in that role. I thank the select committee staff; the  
Hansard 
 reporters who I am sure have much joy in writing down what we say more joy than we do sometimes when we read it back; the Parliamentary Library staff; the Parliamentary Service staff; the travel staff and the security guards; the messengers; the VIP transport staff; the Bellamy’s staff; and my colleagues who pound for pound are the best political team by some margin in the country. I thank my staff—my life would not operate properly without them—Emma who looks after me all the time Wayne Kevin Grant Nicola Phil Sarah Rhiannon and anybody else I have forgotten. 
The year of 2007 has been a good year for National and 2008 will be a great year for National and New Zealand. That is more than we can say for Labour which is rapidly becoming about as popular as a Japanese whaling vessel in the Southern Ocean. That is hardly surprising because the only thing that spends more time in the dock than a New Zealand frigate is a Labour Party Cabinet Minister. They are there all the time. Some months ago we announced a policy that we wanted DNA testing for convicted criminals. I have decided we should drop that and just jot down their Bellamy’s account number—that would be a lot easier. 
This is a Government that is unravelling before New Zealanders’ eyes. We have Ministers who are publicly disagreeing with each other. We have a Government that has become so arrogant that it is arrogant to the marrow. We are seeing people leaving the Labour Party left right and centre. We have a Government that will do anything and say anything to win an election. We know one thing: Labour thinks it is everybody else’s fault but its own. That is the interesting thing. The Labour members do not get the mirror out very often. They have spent years blaming the National Party and now they have moved to blaming the officials. It is the officials’ fault that New Zealanders do not go into Christmas with a tax cut despite the fact that Michael Cullen once famously said of Treasury: “I’m elected and they’re not.” That is what he said but now it is the officials’ fault. He says it is the officials’ fault that people will maybe get only a $15 tax cut under Labour after almost a decade of a Labour Government—if Labour gets that chance. Of course if the polls go down a little bit more then the tax cuts will go up. 
Last week according to the Prime Minister it was the media’s fault. She said the two senior political editors on both TV channels are too young to understand history. That is the reason: too young to understand history. I predict that by next year Labour members will have moved on and it will be someone else’s fault. It will be the voters’ fault by next year. That is whose fault it will be. 
All the time the Labour members are not really worried about what is going on with the big issues. They do not care about the 750 Kiwis who leave every week for Australia. They are not bothered about the fact that there have been no tax cuts for 8 years. They do not care about a failing health system or a failing education system. They do not care about any of those things. They do not even care that much about the 14 finance companies that have gone broke the four interest rate hikes the Government has delivered to New Zealanders this year or that when we look at how much New Zealanders’ wages have gone up then take off inflation take off interest rates and take off rising prices we see that New Zealanders have gone backwards over 8 years. The Government just does not care. 
Next year Helen Clark wants to win a fourth term but not because of what that power will actually achieve. Helen Clark wants another trophy in the trophy cabinet. She wants to buy just one more election. That is all she wants. If she can buy one more election she can keep Phil Goff out of the leadership for just a little bit longer—that is what she wants. The National Party wants a step change for New Zealand. According to Labour and Michael Cullen success is to be despised. That is the message from Michael Cullen—success is meant to be despised. How interesting that is when one contrasts it with the National Party. The National Party is out there promoting a DVD at the moment called  
Ambitious for New Zealand 
. That is what we are and New Zealanders absolutely love it. There are 20000 downloads on YouTube and on our own site. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: How many? 
JOHN KEY 
: There are 20000 downloads. Let me say that we had one small problem with the DVD. We have to be able to laugh at ourselves do we not? Last year I said the Government is a Walkman Government in an iPod world. Actually it is not; it is a video Government in a DVD world and next year it will get clocked big time. That is what will happen to it next year. 
When one looks at the year Labour has had and looks at the problems one really wonders when the people will work out who is to blame. It is Helen Clark but I will come back to her in a minute. Is it not an interesting culture that has developed under Labour? Just last week we picked up the  
Dominion Post 
 and on the front page was a story that the Capital and Coast District Health Board which had a cash crisis was going to sack 50 doctors—not 50 bureaucrats but under Labour sack 50 doctors. This is a country where crime is recorded on a time-line basis in the  
Sunday Star-Times 
. This is a country where the bail laws see New Zealanders out on bail despite the fact they are charged with horrendous crimes. Under Labour they are fit to be back on the streets. This is a country that did not go up in the OECD; it went down. This is a country that will go into Christmas with the Government’s wallet fat but with New Zealanders struggling to make ends meet struggling to afford the niceties of Christmas and struggling to get any further ahead. This is a country where one in five New Zealanders leaves school completely lacking literacy and numeracy skills and where one in two Maori boys and girls completely lacks any qualification at all. In the  
New Zealand Herald 
 the Prime Minister stated that she was shocked that over 300000 New Zealanders could not read the instructions on a fire extinguisher. 
All of this leads us to a Government that has spent the entire year worried about the Labour Party worried about its own Ministers who are constantly in trouble and worried about itself. It is so desperate to stay in power that it has had to force through the electoral finance legislation. It has not been good. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Oh come on John we’ve got 10 minutes left. 
JOHN KEY 
: I am happy to take an extra 10 minutes if the Labour Party wants me to. I do not think a Leader of the Opposition with as much material as I have should be limited to 10 minutes but if Phil Goff wants to give up some time there is no problem—I am happy to take it. It is all getting so bad that the last time Phil Goff was spotted was at the BBQ Factory on Sunday night. He saw the polls he headed off to the BBQ Factory he whipped down to The Mad Butcher and he said “My time will come. The waiting waiting waiting is finally over.” 
I do not have a lot of time left to talk about the great things that the National Party will do next year. I have a whole year next year to talk about those things. I want to say what a great year 2007 has been for National in New Zealand and what a cracker 2008 will be. Merry Christmas.